Just Me

  So it came to me that some people reading this don't actually know me personally, so I thought I should tell everyone a little about me without cancer because really first and foremost I am just Meghan, The mommy of two beautiful girls, daughter of 4 awesome parents, and a girlfriend to Rob.  I'm not cancer I just have it.  

Birthday- 11/26/1985
               So technically this is now "my journey at 31", not 30 :)


I love converse-
    The brighter the better!  I don't wear a lot of bright clothes but my shoes should be bright! Since starting chemo I have switched my shoes to Nike's because of the bone and muscle pain but they are still bright and funky most days.  As soon as my body starts feeling better those converse will be pulled out again! 

Favorite Color-

     Orange! Has been for years! 

Education-

      Well it took me a while to accomplish the college goal but eventually I did it.  I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a teacher and was planning to head to Western Oregon University straight out of high school but instead I found out I was going to have Boston. So I tried COCC for a while during my pregnancy and really couldn't find the drive to be at school or accomplish the work so I stopped going.  A few years down the road I received an amazing job with the Housing Authority in Central Oregon.  I was a Housing Specialist, and decided that "hey, maybe social service work was my calling, not teaching" So while working I decided I would go back to school.  I was accepted to OSU-Cascades and had the drive and determination to finish.  In my Junior year I interned at Bend High in the Teen Parent Program.  This was an amazing mixture of social work and teaching.  Loved it! This sparked my teacher nerve again.  So my senior year I chose an internship placement with Lynch Elementary in there after school Programming.  This is where I officially fell in love with teaching again.  I also found this passion for students with behaviors.  I was drawn to helping them.  Drawn to figuring them out.  So being that it was my senior year I decided I would continue with my Human service path and would take education electives.  Lucky for me OSU has a program called Human Development and Family Science with an emphasis on Human services or education.  So it really wasn't much of a challenge to mix up my classes a bit and still get my degree.  In June 2013 after 2 kids, and a really rough couple years personally I graduated in 4 years with my Bachelors Degree in Human Development and Family Sciences with an emphasis in Human Services.  Needless to say I am pretty darn proud of myself! College goal completed in spite of a few challenges.  My new school goal is to go back so I can take the classes I need to get my teaching license in Special Education and then eventually, someday receive a masters degree in counseling.   Maybe next year-

Kids-

   2 Girls, Boston who is 11 and Blakelee who is 6.  Both surprises and blessings to my life.  I had been undecided for a while about the idea of having more children someday but now I am ready to say I am finished.  Plus Rob has 2 boys who I get to play "Step mom" too and that's pretty cool.  Austin who is 10 and Grayson who is 13.  

Favorite places- 

 Being outside! I love camping and hiking, trees, and lakes.  After a couple weeks of being inside I just have to get out.
The Coast is one of  my favorite places in the whole world.  It's such an amazing place.  I prefer smaller coastal towns with less people and things.  Not so torrist-y,  just the big ocean and exploring to be had.
Portland and Seattle-  I love to walk these cities, explore them, people watch.  They just make me happy.
I love "adventures"  and by adventures I mean going anywhere that is with someone I love where we have a lot of fun.  Sometimes  my adventures are weekends in Portland or spending a few weeks in Arizona or Seattle and other adventures are going to Sherries for pie in the middle of the night. I don't always need large I just need the people I love and some where to explore!

Family and Friends-
Family and Friends are the reason I am even me,  They mean everything to me.  They keep me strong.  Without them I never would have made it through the trials in life,  If you come into my life and I call you friend please expect to be around forever because I don't give up people easily.  I love hard and care deeply for everyone.  Sometimes this effects me in a negative way but many times it pays off with people who love me with there whole heart also.

My parents are divorced and have been since I was 3.  Both of them remarried when I was young and I don't know life without my step parents.  I have a half brother and a half sister but I don't really notice the half part unless you look at my sister and see that we look nothing alike, haha.  They are both successful individuals.  My sister is a UW graduate and my brother is on his way to gunsmith school.  She could probably tell you everything about your brain and he could build or fix anything for you.  They are both much taller then me even though they are 8 and 10 years younger.  I hated my sister when she was young.  Yep, HATE.  I really didn't want anything to do with her, she knew it.  Now she is one of  my best friends, I miss her like crazy daily and when she is home again, even if I don't see her I feel complete, because she is home.  My adored  my brother when I was younger,  He was so cute and loved me and now I don't see him enough.  Life always seems to get in the way for us but man I am proud of him and love him.  I also still want to call him bubba, not sure he would approve though.

Growing Up-
I have lived in Redmond my whole life.  I was born in Bend and raised in Redmond.  I moved to Bend for a short period of time while I was pregnant with Boston and decided Redmond was just where I belonged.  There has been times in my life where I thought about moving away but have never followed through with it.  Some reasons are friends and family, some reasons are that I just love Redmond.  I don't see a reason to leave.

Food-
Basically if it is bad for me I LOVE IT!  Candy is a weakness.  White frosting also gets me every time.  Why must sweets taste soooo good.  I also love Tacos.  I would say tacos are my favorite food.  Pizza is a close 2nd, plain peperoni pizza.

Books and TV- 
These two things pretty much go hand in hand for me.  I love sappy chic flicks and romance novels. Hallmark Holiday movies are my favorite and probably something you will catch me watching any time I am feeling lousy.  I also love reality TV, particularly The bachelor, Bachelorett and anything of that sort.   I also enjoy educational books and movies.  Anything pertaining to child development or mental health also sparks my interest.

My Job-
I am an educational assist in an ILS classroom in an elementary school.  ILS stands for Independent Living Skills.  I adore my job!  Many days are a challenge and I am always ready for the breaks but I miss the students and find myself thinking about them outside of work.  Thinking about better ways to assist them and connect with them.  I found my true calling when I found this job and I am so grateful I was lead to this field. I am also glad that I work where I do.  I am surrounded by the most caring people.  My boss and the principle are wonderful and I couldn't ask for more support from them or anyone else I work with.  I consider myself so lucky to be apart of the school I am.

This is about all I can come up with at this point.  If you want to know something else.......ask me! I am an open book and will tell you whatever you wanna know.  I created this blog for a few reasons but one was to connect with people, and not feel alone.