Guess what I bought today....

A CAMERA!

My old camera broke several months ago-- and since it was well over four years old and I got plenty of use out of it, I finally broke down and bought a new one. Not to mention I am going on a trip soon and want to be able to take pictures that are not cell phone quality.

And in the top right corner of that picture, you see an old school picture of my parents from over 20 years ago. I love it!

Towards the bottom of that picture, you might see two unsightly scars on my chest. Yes, you may look at my chest because I am actually quite proud of those scars. Without one of them, I would have gone on to become very sick-- or worse. When I was nine years old my cat got scared while I was holding him, and he jumped out of my arms-- his hind claws digging into my chest deeply (and looking back, I should have gotten stitches). It grew into a keloid (yes, a lovely word, isn't it) and I had to get it injected to keep it from looking grotesquely disgusting. So anyway, after a few years of having this done, my dermatologist happened to notice an unusual mole that I had never given much thought to at one of my appointments. Turned out to be melanoma (praise God it was in the earliest stage), so I had surgery to remove that, hence the second scar. You see, that's a story I have never told on here. Melanoma at 18. Wear your sunscreen! And so, for many years having endured rude comments from people about one ugly scar, it actually went on to save my life, giving me a second one. I actually love it now when people ask me about those scars. For a long time I wore my collars up to my neck because I was so embarrassed.

See, scar stories are the best!