History, Part Deux

     I have to admit, I don't speak a work of French, i just thought part deux sounded nifty.  I wanted to give a post break history to get me to where I am today.  I was so happy after four months on crutches to graduate from my middle school and move onto high school.  Thankfully, half of the awful people that had made my life so miserable, went to the other high school.  It was a fresh start.  Ironically, the first day of high school, I met a girl that had gone to my middle school and who i had never spoken to.  She had scoliosis and had spent a few years in middle school in a big square back brace.  (that must have been fun.)  We clicked over our hideous middle school experience and stayed best of friends all through high school.  I went back to dancing in high school which brought me so much joy and physical release.  By the end of 9th grade, i was deeply into modern rock, (OK, it was really new wave and George Michael was my idol), pierced my ears several times, shopped mostly at thrift stores and dreamed of going to SF to clubs to dance on the weekends.
   Life totally changed for me after breaking my hip in 9th grade. I always stood up for myself.  I called friends on their shit if I felt they were not treating me right.  I found friends that honored our friendship and respected our differences.  I felt even then, a bit wise for my young age.  All the self doubt I had felt for all those years in middle school, mostly went away.
    I did have my pins taken out between 9th and 10th grade, and continued to move on with my life.  I went to UCSB after high school and once again found my niche, great friends, took dancing and gymnastics, (just for fun mind you, nothing competitive or serious) and found I was pretty good at making good decisions for myself.
  I only point this out, that as brutal as my experience in 8th grade was, it was a growing experience, and one I learn from to this day.  When i graduated college, I went to work in Los Angeles at Bullocks, (now Macys) and had a really great career there for three years.  I then went into the shoe market for 5 years and had the time of my life.  I loved my job and met some great friends i still have today. (namely you Jared.)
    But, one day, I was on a walk in Hawaii, (yes, Honolulu was part of my territtory) and I stared to limp.  I limped the same way I had when i was 13. I was only 28 years old.  Dr. Shapiro had told me I would have arthritis one day , but i thought he meant when I was 50??????
    I went back to LA and met with a fancy Orthopedic doctor who told me that my hip was degenerating, deformed and had growth spurs.  He told me I would need a new hip within 5 years.  I then went into a depression realizing this was not life threatening, but  I could not help but feel sorry for myself.  If they had caught my hip before it had broke, i would not be dealing with this again at only 28.