On Planning

September 16 2016

I am an expert planner (self-proclaimed). I’ve been in training since I was a little thing. When my parents woke me in the morning, I would ask for the day’s plan before I even opened my eyes. By my freshman year of high school, I had it all figured out. I would spend the next few years beefing up my resume with the clear intent of getting a scholarship to play tennis at TCU, majoring in marketing, and then landing a killer job in the fashion industry.


Well, plans change.

My headaches came on quickly and were getting worse. I had imaging studies instead of playing my district tennis match, which seemed like the end of the world. The next day, the doctor put the MRI film on the viewer and we all stared. There was a tumor on my brain stem and I was scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks.

I kept planning. I planned like my life wouldn’t be forever changed. My parents paid for summer camp because I was so certain that I would be on the bus with everyone else in a month. I went to tennis practice and begged my coach to let me keep practicing, since I would be just fine in no time! I seemed to be the only one who believed that everything would go back to normal as soon as they removed that pesky little tumor.

The surgery went well, and the tumor was benign. The right side of my face lost movement, my eye wouldn’t close, and I couldn’t swallow. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks relearning to walk, getting my pain under control, and creating a new plan.

I never stopped making new plans. Even though I could walk, my tennis career had to go. I started playing golf. Since I wasn’t going to get a tennis scholarship at TCU, I worked on my application to Texas A&M. Accounting was not my friend (I’m sure this is not related to the tumor), so I changed majors and started another new plan.

I’ll graduate as a Family Nurse Practitioner 13 years and 5 days after my original plans changed forever. One might note that the medical field and the fashion industry are a bit different...

Plans change. Go with it. Keep making new ones. Who knows? The revised version may be even better than the original.

Amanda Moss
[email protected]
Dallas, TX


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