September is childhood cancer awareness month 🎗 It’s wild to think that as a child I endured not only one cancer, but two. I’m grateful that my mind doesn’t remember all of the details. Unfortunately my body does. So much of my survival depended on my ability to dissociate and sleep through the worst. Sometimes I forget that I don’t have to do that anymore to survive. How is it possible to consciously feel pain in the present moment and simultaneously be catapulted into the past? So much of my daily chronic pain triggers my ptsd and often I get lost in a battle between my past and my present. This most recent pain flare has me reliving the feelings of pre-diagnosis. The unrelenting pain and the vast unknown. I know this is different. That doesn’t mean my thoughts don’t wander.. Today I’m grateful for the little things that keep me grounded. The Sunday market. The time I spend with my paintbrush. My little Tobi. No matter the mountains you move, life keeps going. It waits for no one. Those of us who battled cancer early on know this with every fiber of our beings. We know because we watched the world pass us by while we fought our wars in isolation. Shut off from “life”. To all the youngsters fighting this beast, I am proof that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hold on tight babes🤍🎗 #AerieREAL #AeriePartner #AerieAmbassador @aerie