If someone were to see me walking down the street, they would notice I am not wearing tik toks latest and greatest. I probably wouldn’t be asked why- but you’re here, and I’m here, so I’ll just tell you. Growing up I was your typical youngest sibling. The wild one that seemed to be cut from a different cloth then my sisters. Afternoons were spent running to my Abuelas to eat snacks and catch up on shows and playing outside until the streetlights came on. This mundane routine was my usual until it became a vapor.

Formal turned to prom, prom turned to graduation, and I wasn’t there for any of it. Instead of sitting back on the couch, my back now rested on waiting room chairs awaiting each new doctor’s report for my dad. I was there so often his date of birth became the soundtrack to my life. This same soundtrack was my destiny according to my family. I was destined to be the encore to this album full of my family’s illnesses. The thing was, I knew that wasn’t going to be my story, no matter how many times I was told. College turned the corner, and I became the unhealthiest person I knew. My “destiny” was knocking at my door and before I realized I was so far away from the reality I dreamed for myself. I started with the one thing I knew, and that was changing the inside of my pantry. Once I realized how poorly I was treating my body with the lack of nutrition in my “healthy food” I started to uncover more. I realized my everyday household products, soaps, etc., were doing more harm then good. Over the course of a couple years my entire life looked different, and I thought I had done everything. I accomplished what I had set out to do, or so I thought.

A few months after I had so called “made it”, I was still experiencing some issues I thought would go away with changing literally my whole life. I mean, I became the friend that was never asked what they used because it was too healthy. Luckily, I had some friends who had been on this journey before me and were a great resource. One thing led to another, and I was walking in the doors of Slainte Chiropractic ready to meet doctors that were for me and not against me. In one blink I went from sitting in front of the desk catching up with everyone to doing the same thing from the back, but in all black.

This time, I knew it was the real deal. You see, it’s not the fact that I love holding babies, handing out stickers, and making people think I’m the funniest person they know. Although all things are true- especially the last (I got jokes). It’s the fact that the baby I’m getting to hold could be the pioneer for their family, or the fact that the parents could be. It’s the fact that the kids grabbing stickers will remember a place a time where they didn’t have to accept the destiny someone else put on them. It’s the fact that people going through hard things can have thirty minutes of joy in their day. All things I know to well, as a pioneer myself. It was never about the “things”, it was always so much more.