by Nokomis Tatiana

Created on: October 09, 2008

Moments that changed my life: a list (in order by importance)

Moment #1: The birth of my son. At the risk of sounding like a cliche, the birth of my now four-year-old son was without a doubt the single-most precious moment of my life. I would have been a completely different person without him. Ofcourse motherhood, and in my case single motherhood, generates many levels of stress that I would have never known had I not had a child - finances being the biggest worry. But, as most mothers would tell you - there is nothing in this world I would trade for him, not even the long forgotten nights on the town with the girls or the affordability of a new wardrobe every season.

Moment #2: September 11, 2001. Amazing how I can simply type a date and everyone will know what I mean. I was twenty-one years old. I remember everything about that week. The first thing I heard on the radio was in reference to the plane crashing in D.C. and shortly after I heard about the one in New York. I remember making a cynical comment about someone trying to take over the U.S. - proving my naivity of the actual magnitude of the situation. Shortly thereafter, I heard about the third plane and what was really going on - terrorists were involved. Terrorism attacks were a foreign concept to me at the time, something I only was familiar with in movies like Die Hard, Patriot Games, or The Seige. I still had absolutely no idea how tragic the course of the day had been until, ofcourse, I turned on the television after work. How could I begin to describe or even fathom the feeling of watching the towers burn, people jumping to their deaths, or the histeria and devestation at ground zero? I had never turned to God for questions, prayers, and strength so much before that day.

Moment #3: The diagnosis of an STD. I hesitate to even write that, knowing my name is attached to it - but it is a life-changing moment, nontheless. I was diagnosed with HSV-1 on January 27th, 2006 - exactly one week after my 26th birthday. HSV-1, for those who are unaware, is a form of the Herpes Virus, and there is no cure for it. I was with someone that had it, and I knew this before I was in harm's way. Yet, I chose to risk it anyway. The person who passed it on to me had been very withdrawn about getting close to me, and I admittedly took offense to this at first. After months of talking on the phone hours at a time but avoiding seeing me in person, they finally told me why. At that point, I was so far over-my-head-in-love

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