The Stories that Stuck with Me
This week, I was having trouble figuring out what I was going to write about here on medium. I was feeling uninspired and was putting it off long after the due date. To top it all off, I was feeling physically unwell too, and the last thing I wanted to think about was school work. After a few days of on and off stomach pains, I got home from work yesterday and decided to take a nap, feeling exhausted and achey. About an hour later, I woke up with the most excruciating pain in my abdomen, nothing close to anything I’ve ever felt before. It became hard to move and deep breathe as I got myself ready to go into the emergency room. There was a million thoughts going through my head, however surprisingly enough, the number one thought in my head was a children’s book.
When I was younger, approximately 4th-7th grade, I absolutely adored the Mallory series, by Laurie B. Friedman. I never owned any of the books, but all the ones that were published at this time were at my town’s public library, deep in the corner bottom shelf of the “preteen reads” section. I would head straight to that spot as soon as I got there to sit on the floor and decide which beloved Mallory story I would reread that week. Mallory is a middle school aged girl, who lives a very relatable life for readers around this age. The general theme for the Mallory series revolves around mallory navigating the struggles of keeping up with her peers, managing jealousy, coping with being left out, and other comparable circumstances that children at that age often struggle with.
I am equally a fan of all the Mallory books, but only one of them came to mind when I began to experience that pain I’ve never felt before. Happy New Year Mallory, (2009) is a story about Mallory throwing a new years party for her friends. She is very excited for it, and has done a lot of preparation for it. However, in the days leading up to the party, she begins to experience stomach pains that escalate to become unbearable by the time her friends get to her house. She attempted to hide her pain, fearing she would miss her party, but it failed, and her parents took her to the hospital. Mallory ended up having appendicitis. Despite being fine in the end, she completely missing her party. This story, as well as the way Mallory describes her pain has stuck with me since the first time I read this book. Anytime I’ve ever felt stomach pain, appendicitis has crossed my mind because of this book. The entire time I sat in the ER last night, I dug deep in the back of my mind to remember all the details of Mallory’s situation, her operation, hospital stay, recovery, because I was completely convinced what happened to Mallory was finally happening to me too. That’s when I knew what I was going to write about this week. The stories we are told and the lessons were are taught as children will stay in our minds always, whether we realize it or not. And for anyone who became invested in my side of this story, it was a kidney stone, which in my opinion is likely just as unpleasent as appendicitis.