One of my Heroes

Today I wanted to talk about one of my heroes. This person isnt famouse or well known for the reason they are my hero. this person simply lives life to their fullest and doesnt let life get her down.
My hero is my little sister Kenzie. she would kill me for writing this but i dont care.
My little sister kenzie is almost 16, a sophomore at a public high school, an honor roll student taking AP classes, and has a great social life. you could say that she is like almost every other high school girl except one thing. Shes Bald.

My sister kenzie was diagnosed with Alopecia when she was 10 and in the 4th grade.

Alopecia is a common autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body. It usually starts with one or more small, round, smooth patches on the scalp and can progress to total scalp hair loss (alopecia totalis) or complete body hair loss (alopecia universalis).

Alopecia areata affects approximately two percent of the population overall, including more than 4.7 million people in the United States alone. This common skin disease is highly unpredictable and cyclical. Hair can grow back in or fall out again at any time, and the disease course is different for each person. there is no cure.

When kenzie was first diagnosed she only had a few spots on her head were there was no hair and her hair line started to  fade away.

In the summer of 2009 kenzie lost all the hair on her head within 2 months.

the first picture is kenzie in june of 2009

the second is a picture of her and my sister colleen in october 2009

Kenzie left 8th grade with beautiful long curly brown hair and walked into 9th grade, a high school freshman completely bald.

Kenzie now has alopecia universalis. she has no hair on her body what so ever. she doesnt even have eyelashes.

kenzie from day one has refused to cover up what she really is. she will not wear a hat or a wig even though it would make it so much easyer on her. she would rather be looked at, made fun of, or judged then comprimise who she is and how she feels.

everyday she has people looking at her and asking her why she is the way she is and she just smiles and explains that she has alopecia and what alopecia is and that she is a perfectly healthy girl and that no she doesnt have cancer.

kenzie has more ambition and drive to be the best that she can be in her little finger then I have in my whole body. 

I look up to her because I feel like I'm always compromiseing myself for what others want or expect me to be and kenzie is always herself 100%. 

I know that if I were in her shoes I would not have such a positive mentality. I dont say it enough but I love her and am so proud of her strength.  

This Is Me Today

This is me today.

“I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.”

        -Dolly Parton

I dont know who I look like. No one has ever told me i look like someone. I guess thats better then someone saying I look like someone that i dont want to look like.

I've been called a great many things.

A Dork

A Smartass

A Slacker

I guess you could say that all of these things are true. I'm a dork because I like to do silly things and I have silly interests that are not cool. I'm a smartass only because I'm sarcastic and not everyone gets sarcasm. And I most definitely am a slacker. I have lived with my parents my whole life until recently. I am now living with a family as a Nanny. I am in a small town that is 2 1/2 hours away from the twin cities and were my family live.

Its hard for me to be away from my family and everyone I know. like I said, the only thing I can promise about this blog is that it will be nothing but honest. so I dont care if it makes me sound like a baby to admit that I would rather be home surrounded by the people and places and things that I love than to be an adult and on my own.





My first Blog

So this is my first blog. It kind of scares me. I like the feeling of being scared that someone somewhere is reading what I have to say. The only thing Im going to promise you about this blog, is that it will be uncontrollably honest, and that it will have alot of spelling and grammer mistakes.
I'm 21 and live in Minnesota. I have always lived in Minnesota and I'm kind of ok with that. I like being close to my big dysfunctional family. but recently i have this underlying feeling of adventure. i want to get in trouble. I've never been in trouble before. Do any of you feel like that?