I would like to do a somewhat un-ballet related post and talk about someone who I discovered while surfing the internet. This person is Hayley Okines, a fourteen year old girl who has a rare disease called progeria. It is an aging disease, causing Hayley to have the body of a 105 year old woman.
That sounds hard to believe, like it may be fake, but its a real disease. Most children with progeria live into their early teenage years, if they're lucky. Hayley was only predicted to live to be 13 years old, but defied the odds and celebrated her 14th birthday last December.
Hearing Hayley Okines story for some reason hit me hard. The idea of someone my age, not being able to move around very well affected me, seeing that I an incredibly active lifestyle. It made me realize how lucky I really am to be able to dance, run, even walk. I flashed back to earlier today when I was complaining to my friend about how I didn't want to go run around Greenlake in a few weeks. Sometimes, I'm amazed at my own ungratefulness for the littler things in life.
So pretty much what I'm trying to say is that we should all learn from this. Next time you gripe about having to go to dance class (we all have those days), or a really long rehearsal, or even having to walk a long ways because the bus broke down, take the time to think about how lucky you really are to be given the opportunity.
More dance-related posts coming soon! I just had to get this out there if you know what I mean. :)
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