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WOMEN'S STORIES Tell us why you're beautiful... If you would like to share your personal self-esteem story with us, and others on the web, please click here. "Homestead
is more then just the name of my
"I
had surgery to remove my jaw a week or so before my tenth birthday. Before I ever
realized
"I've
always wanted to help people. Until I learned I was HIV positive I had been obsessed
with the death of my brother. I was living in a constant state of despair, unable
to find a reason to live. When the doctor gave me the results of my test, I knew
I had to make my time on this earth count. I started talking to everyone about
the disease and before I knew it, I began traveling to Native American reservations
sharing my experiences with others. I believe that I am meant to help others,
to care for others. On one of my trips to a
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ranch.
I think if Dad had said that my brother could have the ranch because he was a
graduate of Kansas State, has a degree in Animal Science, another degree in Agricultural
Science and was running it so well, I would have had to take that into consideration.
But to come and say that Ed can have the ranch because he's the only boy just
didn't cut it. It just wasn't good enough. I had read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
and though I knew I couldn't run a railroad, I knew I could run a ranch."
that I looked different I was bald from chemotherapy. So that was sort of what
I was focused on, you know. It was like the fact that I had no hair. There actually
are worse things in the world than having cancer. It's not a good thing, it's
not an easy thing to go through, but I get a little suspicious of people who want
to make themselves and their problems the center of the universe. Luckily I was
able to retain, for a long time, my sense of worth as a person and I saw that
as separate from my worth as a female."
reservation
in South Dakota I found four abandoned children who were just crying out for love.
I brought them home to Oklahoma and a year later found another who needed my love.
Now my life is fulfilled."
down
my torso made me feel desperately flawed. Plus now I am fat and have stretch marks
from my pregnancy that disgust my son's father. But I am proud of my scar; without
it I wouldn't be alive. I am proud of my fat and stretch marks; without them I
wouldn't know the joy of motherhood. I am black. I am scarred. I am strong. I
am proud to say how beautiful I am."
