Peanuts: My Greatest Teacher
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Photo by Amber Cargill |
| Me with a positive outlook on life, November 2006. |
As I lay in the hospital bed with an IV in my arm, I couldn't help but wonder why. For so many years I had been a big fan of the peanut and the wonders it could do.
Growing up, whenever my family went out to eat, I wore a smile from ear to ear as I ordered the usual—a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you gave me a celery stick to eat, it better have peanut butter on it. If you wanted to give me a cookie, I'd ask for "peanut butter, please." And my favorite afterschool snack was a bag of—yes, peanuts and some tropical fruit snacks that were full of vitamin C.
But the amicable relationship I had with the peanut came to an end in the spring of 1999.
After suffering from a bout with hives, a swollen esophagus and a stomach that seemed to twist and turn forever, my doctor told me that I just had a reaction to my new food allergy.
I could not believe it.
Out of all the times I had eaten a bag of peanuts, my body decided to reject them on my birthday.
Ever since then, I would watch, with longing eyes, at people eating their peanut butter sandwiches or peanut butter cookies. Even the mere scent of peanuts would remind me of the cruel joke played on me.
But believe it or not, there has been a greater lesson learned from all of this.
Although my 17th birthday hadn't been my best one, it did provide me with the best gift—being able to accept change.
A lot of people do not like change. Some see it as an inconvenience or as unnecessary. But for me, the peanut situation taught me to try to find some good in it. Although I've lost the ability to enjoy my favorite snack food, I've been able to find a new one—cheese.
So, as I've learned, not all change is bad. It just opens you up to other possibilities.