Momference: A Meeting of the Moms

This saying ‘Fall Down Seven Times, Get Back Up Eight’ was one that I received in the form of a fortune cookie saying. The night I received this I placed it in my pocketbook, took it home and placed it away in a draw. I have since moved this from place to place as I am cleaning out, moving things around and although I often forget it’s there, I never seem to ever lose this little tiny piece of paper. Something always told me in the back of my mind that I would one day come back to this saying for a reason…My intuition was right.

If I may, let me share a bit of the challenges that made me who I am…not my story, but rather a person of strength, perseverance and determination. ‘My story’ was just a venue to bring the best ‘me’ inside …out. Let me explain…

I am the survivor of 43 surgeries due to a condition I was affected by at birth called Spina Bifida. I am also the fighter of an ongoing current battle with PTSD that on any given day can leave me crippled by the phobias that it has inflicted me with. Where did my PTSD come from? Aside from the obvious answer of the experience of having 43 surgeries, I experienced the affects of a life threatening case of bacterial meningitis shortly after experiencing complications with a spinal surgery back in my teenage years. As a result, they had to reopen the wound and clean it out to clear the infection…without anesthesia…yes, go ahead, go back and read that again, but I assure you that you did, in fact, read that correctly the first time. Without anesthesia. It wasn’t a “surgery” per say, more like a procedure. I wish I could say it ended there…but I can’t. See, from there the wound had to be left opened to the air to heal from the bottom up. That meant excruciatingly painful treatments of unpacking and packing the wound with a solution that had the ability to kill any and all germs…Saline and Clorox bleach. This went on for 8 months, 3 times a day…Hence, PTSD has now invaded my life and more or less taken it over in ways I never saw coming. My goal each day? Put the feet on the floor…take a breath…and move…one foot in front of the other.
The point of today’s thought is this….fall as many times as you need to…because it’s not the amount of times you fall that matters…it’s how many times you choose to get back up…now THAT counts. Now, if I had written that fortune cookie, it would have sounded something like this:

“Fall down 1,000 times…….ah forget it! Just grab your cane, get up, dust yourself and pray to God you remember how the heck to walk!!! “…….therein lies the very reason I don’t write fortune cookies for a living!   

So, I leave you with this…..If we never fall, would we ever come to know strength? Maybe…..Maybe not. But here’s my thought…..for every time we fall, getting up becomes almost an ‘art’ if you will…..So, I figure by the time my life comes to an end whenever that may be, my goal is to be not a master of life, but a master of ‘getting up’.   How cool!

About the Author:
Claudia De Mauro
Owner and founder of Move Through Your Challenges
Life coach for those who wish to move through their challenges!
EMAIL: mtyc@optonline.net