Font image that reads, “The following is a journal entry from Emily that is being shared with permission from her parents. This is a look into her unfiltered thoughts about her outlook on life and how she wanted to be defined... “
Thursday, June 19, 2003
I read an article about a girl with CF (Cystic Fibrosis), and here are my comments:
I don’t want this to define me. If someone wrote an article about me, I want it to be about my voice or work or something awesome I’ve done - not my CF. It would be like writing an article on my blonde hair. I want my legacy to be my library, my wit, my work, my music, my laughter, my friends, my pictures, my relationships, my loves. I want to be remembered for my fortitude, my talents, my love of God, children, self, my self-reliance, my respect of others, my love of life and not the fact that it may end too soon. Defeats and circumstances are not a legacy. The life ones lives IN SPITE OF THEM is my legacy. That is what I want to live forever - these words, not the fact of my life. My spirit. My heart. My life, defined on my own terms and lived my way. Free. Without apologies. Passionate. In love with life. And with no excuses or borders…just my free, passionate, gifted, willful, personal self. Just me.
Emily Michele DeArdo.
That’s me. A daughter, sister, niece, cousin, granddaughter, best friend, friend, writer, musician, confident, EAI member, Catholic, devout, actress, lobbyist, politician, collector, debater, singer, lover of all the life that God above gives me to live. God is so good to me! I am defined on my own terms and by my own words.
I am so much more than this page (her journal) can contain. I am a daughter of God and I live to do His will. I am loved and happy and unique and passionately in love with life. I want to drink it, absorb it, eat it! All of it! Even the “bad parts.” Nothing is bad - all of it is part of the mosaic of life. Life is to be lived as richly as possible until we go to live with God forever. How happy that will be! Life beautiful, wonderful, fabulous…and I don’t ever want to be told otherwise. My life is mine and I love it! CF is part of it, to be sure, but it doesn’t define me. I define me! And, oh, how I love life!
“You have to live the
life you’re given,
and never close your eyes
you hold on, and stare into
the skies, and burn against the cold!
For any moment
you might find the gold!”
- “Gold” by Linda Eder
How true! How true!
I LOVE LIFE!
Font image that reads, “While you read, did you think about how you’ve been defining your own life? Have you been limiting yourself or letting others label you and your potential? In the wise words of Jane (aka Nightbirde)...”
Quote from Jane Marczewski (aka Nightbirde): “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore…before you decide to be happy.”