“I am close to my mom. Whenever she would leave and go out of town, I would freak out. I was in 6th grade and got really sick when mom left. Dad didn’t believe me at first because he thought I was just missing her.”

“I was out of town celebrating a 50th birthday with my best friends. We spent the night out overnight. Maggie texted me and said she wasn’t feeling good. When I got home, she stood up and almost passed out. I knew something was wrong so we took her to Children’s Hospital. I could only think of flu. They immediately took her to the back because her blood pressure was so low. They hooked her up and Maggie was in ICU for eight days. To this day, we don’t know what happened. She was not coherent for three or four of those days. My husband and I took shifts with her. She went to Catholic school and our priest came over and did last rights over her when I wasn’t there”

“The last rights is the first thing I remember in ICU.”

“I was in denial. My husband was more of a realist. I was very even and taking care of her.  She had encephalitis and had a spinal tap. She recovered and missed six months of school. It is a miracle that she is here right now.”

“I am five feet tall, so it stunted my growth. It also changed how I see life and made me realize people are going through so much.”

“You can’t judge people because you don’t know what they are going through. We were at an elite, Catholic, rich school in Atlanta. It was a bubble and so fake. It is different here.”

“I was going to go to Georgia College to stay close to my parents, but they decided to move to Fairhope and it was more than six hours a way. I lasted at Georgia College a week and I moved here with them. I am at Coastal now and I love it. I want to be a pediatric nurse after what I went through. My sister is a pediatrician. I can relate to the suffering people go through because I have been there.”

“My son is a Buddhist monk. He went to Penn State and dropped out. He was a lost soul for a long time. He hit rock bottom, living at home, almost suicidal. He was into drinking and smoking pot and abused us when he was living at home. I blamed myself, but we were doing the best we could with him. We kicked him out of the house and he said it was the best thing that happened to him.  He found meditation and discovered Buddhism. He is amazing now. He has been in Thailand for almost two years. He is a life-changed young man. All he wants to do is help people. It completely lifted him. He is the happiest he has ever been and we are so proud of who our brilliant son has become.

We have a business in Atlanta and Mobile. We are renting a house in Fairhope and are testing the waters for moving here. I have learned how to chill in Fairhope. I was in traffic three hours a day in Atlanta. Why would I live that way? I want to be more creative here. I love painting, drawing, decorating, and arranging flowers, but I have been raising kids and haven’t had time to do any of these. It is the time to be creative again. I almost feel guilty about getting to go back to what I love.  Everyone is finally safe and happy in my family. I am getting out of the rat race and enjoying every day.