Davis, Nancy

So due to a lot of prodding from Melissa, LaNae and a few others I have finally decided to do my blog. I still can’t believe we graduated 20 years ago, I guess it’s even more shocking to think of being 38. It sure doesn’t seem as old now as it did when I was in high school.

In high school I was the rebel. I think I was really just shy and not someone who knew how to approach others. I always wished I had done more, whether it was in sports or dance. I wish I had just let go of the fear and done it. My shyness just didn't allow it and neither did my fear of rejection.

After high school I found my self to be a wandering soul trying to figure out where I belonged and what I wanted in life. I knew I wanted to have fun, and not settle down so I stayed “wild” until I was about 23.

Then I found myself wanting to get back to my roots and to the values I was brought up with. I started going to Church and decided to go through the temple when I was 28. I’m funny though, cause I still think of my self as a rebel, I hang with and love my party friends. I just also love my church.

Also when I was 28 I decided to go to Nurnberg Germany with my mom to meet her family and to see the country. It was the most amazing trips I have ever been on, filled with a beautiful country, people, and places to see. I felt at home in a place where I really knew no one and didn't speak the language enough to get far. We went to castles, dungeons, old Nurnberg, we saw old gothic style churches and made it to one of the most famous castles in Germany, Neuschwanstein castle, located near the Bavarian border. It was just amazing and I’m very luck to have gone.

In about 2000 my mom started getting sick, and it just got worse and worse. By the time we got her to the doctor, they had her admitted and hooked up to dialysis machines. There is a kidney disease in my mom’s family where you have a 50/50 chance of getting it. You get it and your kidneys shut down. Most of her family had died from this same thing, but my mom thought she had beat it. When we met up with her doctor, he mentioned the chances of us getting this disease, and also said we could donate. I jumped at the chance. I was tested and cleared and on 9/5/02 I donated a kidney to my mom. It was amazing and special. I loved thinking that my mom gave me life, and now i was able to do the same for her. There was just such a bond between us.

Unfortunately shortly after the successful transplant, my mom got ill again and was diagnosed with a disease called ALS (lou gehrigs) that was a slap in the face and it meant no more miracles. Mom passed away just a few weeks shy of the one year anniversary of the transplant.

I talk about these things because they make me who I am. I spent a good portion of my adult life trying to save my mom, taking care of her, and then watching her die a terrible death. I got lost in the process and sort of disappeared from life. After her death there was the emotional baggage that changed me. My brother, Mike, died in 2006 of ALS also. It was quiet a shock, and doctors still aren’t sure how 2 people in one family could get it and die with in just years of each other. After that I gave up. I didn’t know what I was living for anymore, and I didn’t know how to get back to a happy, normal life.

Here I am now, trying to finally get out there and live again. I’m hoping that my late 30's and 40's will be a time for happiness and love. --- I need a good man, who love animals (takers? lol)

For now I’m lucky to have a wonderful family and the greatest dog and animals ever. My life is theirs. I have a great job with the City of Provo. I’m happy and I’m very lucky to have the things I do. I’m also very lucky to have great friends some from the past and some new, and even some I’ve got to know from high school on Facebook. I have really enjoyed the chance to talk, its easier now then it was in high school.

God Bless and well talk soon

Nancy L Davis