Madison Sanders Writes

The teachers gathered the teens and said we were going on an adventure...in the woods. They explained the rules. Everyone had to have a buddy with them and we had to find our way back by working together. Note: This was a well-facilitated group exercise with many teachers and adults around. Mrs. Stephanie and I started off just trying too get a feel for the area. Soon, we came to an area that forced us to decide which direction we were going to take. Left or right. The pine needles underfoot were no help. No one had paved the way for us. We choose one and continued on the path. Time rocked on. I wondered if we were any closer to the church. I had no idea where we were. I just knew we had to keep going. Let's just say my legs had other plans. They were throbbing in pain because they weren't used to being used that much. I trudged on. The pain became more intense so I leaned into my crutches even more. "Do we need to stop and rest?" Mrs Stephanie. asked. &

I have a mid-term exam to study for and lots of little assignments, so blogging will be limited this week. I may have a Memories Rewind post up, but if I don't feel free to look at some of my past stories for your weekly dose of laughter. Hope everyone is having a great Monday! Mine will be filled with studying.

Every day we are faced with a choice. Is today going to be good or bad? While you can't change the circumstances, you can change your attitude. When my body is trying to adjust to the changes, which result in some sleepless nights, I get a choice. I can wallow in self-pity and find countless things to nit pick, or I can say, "No matter what I feel like, I'm going to praise You anyway." In fact, I uttered those words through tears today as I waited for relief. One thing I've learned is you can waste your life away waiting for things to happen. You have to embrace the moment. I thought of the first song that popped into my head and started singing. God didn't mind that it sounded like a blubbering mess. I was determined to get in a good mood. Sometimes we can be so focused on a little thing that we miss the big picture. The big picture is I still have a life. I have breath to laugh and sing. I can write when words are stuck between the lump in my through and my

I just came through another major surgery at 14. I slowly walked the hallway of the hospital as I was trying to prepare myself to meet my new physical therapist. Up until this point, all of my physical therapists had been women, so I was nervous. My feet were dragging as my mind was racing. "Would he be understanding? Is he patient? Would he be like a drill sergeant?" I wondered as I stopped in front of the room. There was no turning back now. I eased my body into a chair in the waiting room. I decided to watch the minutes tick by on the clock on the wall. I was trying to think of something...anything to keep from going into panic mode. Tick, tick, tick. Before I knew it, it was my turn. I was met by a young man named Dustin. "Are you ready to get started?" As I got up to leave, the receptionist said, "He won't kill you." I felt a little more at ease as a smile crept across my face. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all," I thought. We di

School is keeping me incredibly busy. I am learning so much about how magazines and newspapers design their pages. It definitely takes patience! I'm juggling the workload fairly well, considering my pain. I love being busy because it keeps my mind off the pain. I haven't given an update on the medical side, so I thought I would take time to do that. I've been in a lot of pain these past few weeks, but I'm managing. I go back to the doctor in October to get a shot. I've often heard it's important to keep your routine as normal as possible, and I would agree with that. During a recent conversation with my old orthopaedic surgeon, he said something that really encouraged me: "You have a lot of things left to do in your life!" I hung up the phone feeling renewed. It's amazing what a few simple words can do to encourage you. I was hurting that day, but I wasn't after we finished talking. I love it when I'm reminded of the big picture. I'm no

At my school, everyone looked forward to Field Day. It was a chance to take a break from our schoolwork and just have fun. I found my group over by the swings and waited for the games to start. You could feel the excitement in the air. One of the first races was the wheel barrow race. One person had to push someone in a wheel barrow all the way around the orange cone and back, and whichever team did this the fastest won. "C'mon!" we all shouted to our teammates as we waited our turn. I was next. I hopped in the wheelbarrow as fast as I could and off we went. A massive black guy was pushing me (if I remember correctly). "Are you ready to fly down this hill?" he asked. "Yep, just as long as you don't throw me overboard!" I replied. The next few minutes were a blur. We whizzed past the trees so quickly they resembled huge green blobs to me. "Lord, help me not to get sick," I mumbled under my breath as I heard my classmate's feet pounding

I was at a crowded, required function at school this week. I went in determined to learn something, and I did. I wasn't bothering anyone when I overheard girl talking in her cell phone: "Where are you?" she demanded. "I'm over here by the door trying to find you!" I watched this girl as she waited for her friend to find her before she would sit down. I wanted to tell her, "Sit down next to someone and introduce yourself. It's not that hard." It was hard to watch her look so lost and nervous among strangers. She reminded me of a butterfly. If a butterfly doesn't get out of its cocoon, it will die. In order for it to live, it has to stretch its wings and push past the thing that has it confined. To put things in perspective, the butterfly is furiously working to reach what lies beyond that cocoon. All this time the butterfly has been nestled there, but there comes a time to shed that covering. If not, the butterfly will be suffocated and neve

Being a friend means many different things to people. To me, it means being there for the other person no matter what. A friend is someone who knows all of your flaws and chooses to love you anyway. A friend listens. A friend supports. A friend challenges you to do things that you wouldn't normally do. Lately, I've been questioning a few friendships. As with any relationship, it is a give and take. Sometimes, I wonder where to draw the line. I've forgiven many things. Friends spend time together, right? That's what I thought, too. It's like I'm a puppet on a string that is being led on and pulled in so many directions. I still love this person, but they have to make some decisions. When they do, I'll be here waiting. I'm not going to be a doormat, but I am here to listen. I just think some people don't know the difference. We all should to re-evaluate what's important to us from to time to time, but not everyone does. It bothers me when people ju

We had just moved into our new house. The crickets were chirping as people were getting ready to relax for the night. "Wanna throw the baseball around with me, Madison?" my brother asked. He didn't have to ask me twice. I jumped up off the couch and headed outside. Eli was good about throwing it easy. He stood close to me, letting me catch the ball with ease. The muggy air was making me sweaty as I concentrated on catching the ball in his worn glove. We were talking about school when I forgot a ball was headed in my direction. "Madison, you were supposed to catch it!" Eli said as the ball rolled to a stop on the grass. I laughed as I tossed it back to him. He just had to understand that girls get distracted when they talk. Eli was a little frustrated. He wanted to play catch. I had ruined the game. Oh well, that's what little sisters are for, right? I felt bad, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw his trademark grin. That was our unspoken signal that every

As human beings, when tragedy strikes, we have to find something beautiful in the midst of the chaos. Isn't that what we search for? We come home after a long day at school or work and seek solitude in food or a good movie, right? We want to quiet our mind's restless thoughts as we try to make sense of our lives. Sometimes we can't plan next week's schedule, much less what we will do tomorrow. It's normal for us to crave calm in the storms of life, but we need to look in the right place. We can't do it alone, that's for sure. When my mind wants to wander off in million directions, worrying about things I cannot change, I'm gently reminded by my Father of something I sometimes forget. "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8 NIV). After l went to Augusta for my last

I had an interesting question someone asked recently I thought I would share with you. Anonymous said, "Wow...this blog is so popular. I just wanted to know how do you monetize it? Can you give me a few advices? For example, I use http://www.bigextracash.com/aft/2e7bfeb6.html I'm earning about $1500 per month at the moment. What will you recommend?" First of all, thanks for the compliment. To answer your question, I don't monetize my blog. I don't have any ads on here. In other words, I don't earn any money from my blog. I do this because I love it. It's not that I'm opposed to making money doing what I love, but that's not why I started this blog. (I don't want to put random ads on here that have nothing to do with causes I don't support.) Writing is my passion. It's actually like breathing for me. I try not to go a day without writing something. This blog isn't popular because of anything I've done, I can assure you. I

I have many scars on my body. One girl even went so far as to tell me she felt like she was going to throw up after looking at my leg, even though there was no blood or anything. I look at them as something beautiful. They signify that I've survived. No, I didn't always look at it that way. As a young girl, I didn't think anyone could ever love me with all of my issues. If I'm being honest, sometimes I still feel that way. I know that love isn't determined by what's on the outside, but you would be surprised at how society is towards people like me. But, as I was going in for my spinal fusion surgery, something changed. I was seventeen years old. I was no longer a scared nine year old girl. I knew what I had to do. "Let's go add another scar to my collection!" I told my Granny with a laugh. We all have scars. Some of us have scars on the inside that run deep. Just because others can't see them doesn't mean the pain isn't there. You surv

Hello, readers! Madison invited me to do a guest post for this week's Memories Rewind, and I was very excited for the opportunity to share with all of you. My name is Tanya Hudson, and I was Madison's junior English teacher a few years ago. (She was an excellent student and, of course, an excellent writer, as I'm sure you could've guessed. :p) Now, I'm a school librarian in Athens, GA, and I thought I would share one of my favorite childhood memories: summer trips to the library with my Mammaw. We didn't have much money when I was growing up; my parents had me and my little brother, Dave, when they were teenagers--just kids themselves. Despite their limited means, though, Mom and Dad always made sure we had books at home, and they always encouraged us to read--but I was ravenous for more. I even read in the bathtub, squinting to decipher the microscopic print on the lime green shampoo bottle. Enter my Mammaw, who kept Dave and me in the afternoons during the sch