IMPACT on my Life!

So this isn't my testimony to share, but I will anyway. At the age of 16, my brother, that's him right there, he got Crohn's Disease(a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It usually affects the intestines, but may occur anywhere from the mouth to the end of the rectum (anus)) . It was July 2007 and we were away in the States, I'll never forget it. I was 11 years old. My brother, he was chubby before. Then that summer, when we came back to Tobago, you would swear we were characters from Jack and the Beanstalk(Joel as the beanstalk and me as the giant(I got my growth spurt then..remember?). Anyway, Crohn's disease is a recurring thing for Joel. Based on his experiences, it reoccurs based on stress level. He's in university. He's a Biology major. Imagine THAT stress.

Growing up, Joel was kind of my everything. I have another older brother and sister but he was closest in age to me although I wasn't to him. He would play dolls, play house, cheer me up whenever I was down. He was like my best friend. To this day, he is STILL one of my closest friends and someone I know I can always count on.












Joel's always been the livelihood of the family. He's funny, smart, musically inclined,kind. Deep down, and I hope he never finds this blog, I think he's my role model and still to this day he's everything I try and want to be. With the Crohn's Disease, he changed. He matured but he also became depressed. He wasn't the jovial Joel I knew. He told me that he'd had his faith tested. So did I. I often asked the question, "Why God? Why punish my best friend?" To this day, he still has flare-ups and I try to trust God but the questions are still there.

I bet you're now wondering how his experience changed me. It did so in many ways. It made me learn to appreciate him more. Appreciate life more. If you met Joel today, you'd swear nothing's wrong with him. Yeah he's 'meg' (colloquial term for "reed thin") but so what? He's lively, his faith is stronger than ever, his jokes still have the ability to make you weak, and he's still my confidant.

 Joel's experience also had a drastic effect on my personality. Now if you tell anyone that Jolyne Renelle Richard was shy and introverted, they'd just about collapse on the floor with cardiac arrest. In my childhood, I could remember myself being active in church and clubs but I was also so shy. I liked to read, stay indoors, watch television. The social life was more Joel's spectra. As mentioned before, his disease put a hindrance on his exuberant flame. So I guess that I wished to plant, where his disease left ashes.

He'd always made me happy as a child. Always made me feel as if I were important, not just his annoying baby sister. And I guess, I wanted to become him. So I became louder, and funnier and started to be more like him. Even when I came to university here, people would call me Joel 2.0(he also goes to school here). My philosophy is, maybe not in this exact way or these exact words, "BE LIKE JOEL." I mean this in the sense that, although I may not know what someone is going through, I can provide them with a joke, a laugh, a word of encouragement, because something I may have said or done could be the sunshine to their cloudy day. Joel was and is still that to me.

 It kinda sounds like I'm idolizing him, doesn't it? He has flaws, trust me, I can assure you that. He's changed my personal views. You CAN love your sibling as a friend. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have my health, my strength, my friends, my God. What more can I be wanting for?You could say Joel and I are close. I guess we are. We've talked, we've cried, we've laughed..Oh boy have we laughed! And he's been one of the main reasons why I am the Jolyne I am today. Your environment affects who you are. He's part of my environment. The little bugger. Influencing me and whatnot! His birthday's on the 26th of this month. He's going to be 21. And although he'll never see this(I pray this deeply as I CANNOT afford to enlarge his already big head), I wish a Happy Birthday in advance. *cue music and party balloons*

I'm about to hit the hay, but I'll leave with 3 quotes I've always liked and they're all by Mahatma Gandhi. That man just KNEW what he was about. I think they tie in really well with this post and well, they're pretty inspiring.

 "Be the change you want to see in the world."

"You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result."

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Have a Good one

Till we meet again

XOXO Gossip Girl

*darn..wrong ending*

<3<3 JoReRi