I wrote this story for my final English assignment this year...the assignment was to write an anecdote that conveys a larger truth about an issue in your life. IN other words, write a story that seems pointless but really has a deeper meaning. My story is about the issue of Crohn's... I'm 16 and have had it for a year. Although it specifically focuses on my alternative diet (no wheat, sugar, or dairy) the emotions it implies are ones that we all go through. Also, I know that Crohn's is not all bad...in this piece I just chose to take a negative tone and show the negative aspects of the disease!! ---Ilana
"Mom," I shouted down the stairs impatiently,
"when are we going to the store?"
"In a minute Ilana, just let me finish what I'm doing." she quickly responded.
I swallowed the last bite of my banana and slipped on my new pink flip flops. Just as I had one foot out the door I realized I had forgotten something. "Damn it," I thought to myself. I turned and hurried back into the house. I grabbed my bowl of pill bottles and carefully selected the nine I had to take. Geez, and to think people complain about taking two pills a day, try 14!!! But I guess that's just a part of Crohn's Disease you learn to live with...
"Ilana, I'm ready!" said my mom,
as I followed her out to the car, on our way to the supermarket.
As we entered the overly lit grocery store I was filled with
the initial feeling I always get when entering a grocery store since I've been
diagnosed with Crohn's disease. We quickly grabbed a carriage and my Mom
hurried us through the rows of beautifully stacked vegetables. I noticed a
little blond girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, begging her mom not to buy a salad
from the salad bar. "Why doesn't she realize how lucky she is,"
I thought to myself. I loved vegetables. I used to eat them day and
night, until I was told by my stomach doctors that until I went into remission I
was not allowed to eat a single one. So much for "being an
independent teenager." I wasn't even allowed to eat the food I liked.
I had no control over my life.
By now we had made our way through the cereal aisle and had reached
the aisle containing chips...Ahh, chips. At this stage in my life, they
were definitely my favorite food. Besides being just about the only
crunchy food I could eat, they were great for snacks. I could eat them
with cheese, guacamole, or even humus. And oh, what variety. I
stared at all the rows of chips...so many to choose from. When you can't
eat anything with flour in it, choices become limited. No more are you the
normal, every day shopper trying to find the newest, most low fat, cheapest
variety of a food. Rather you become like a detective, searching shelves
high and low looking for the one type of ordinary food (i.e. crackers) you can
eat. While everyone else is choosing between the fun shaped cheez-it's,
low fat cheez-its, or extra cheesy cheez its you're stuck throwing boxes of
crackers aside, desperately looking for that one box of rice crackers, that you
KNOW the store MUST have in stock.
As we approach the end of the aisle I'm bombarded by a lady
throwing coupons at me and begging me to try the new Deluxe fudge brownies.
"Honey, these are delicious. Please take one, they're so good." the lady begs, sweetness dripping off her voice.
"Umm no thanks," I respond keeping my eyes to the ground.
"Ohh honey don't tell me you're on a diet? Girls your age shouldn't be dieting. Here take one," she states firmly as she shoves a brownie oozing with chocolate into my hand.
"I uhh actually can't eat it," I mutter hoping she either won't hear or at the least will stop asking questions.
"Sure you can sweetheart, just take it and bring it up to your mouth."
NO you dumb lady, I think to myself! I have a
disease! I will have it for the rest of my life! I can't eat any of your stupid
brownies. With all the wheat and sugar they have in them. I probably
wouldn't be able to walk for days after eating one because of all the cramps it
would give me. Yeah it sucks to be me, I know. But you're not
helping the situation either. Why do you have to be so obnoxious and so
ignorant. You just don't get it. And the sad part is, if I tried to
tell you, you still wouldn't get it. Because nobody does. Nobody
will. Ever.
But indeed these are not the words that come out of my mouth.
Rather I hear myself saying confidently, "Actually Ma'am I can't eat them
for health reasons." I flash her a beaming smile as I walk away
although inside I am steaming. I meet up with my Mom in the pasta aisle.
I zip by the side of the aisle with "normal" pasta: spaghetti noodles,
wheels, lasagna noodles. When I finally reach what appears to be the end
of this enormous pasta supply, I spot "my" pasta sitting in a dark
corner. It's not bright blue like the Prince boxes of pasta; it's green.
And is doesn't state "Made with Whole Wheat" on the side of the box.
Rather, it proudly states "wheat free, made from organic rice".
I grab a few boxes and throw them into the shopping cart. I notice a young
woman with frizzy brown hair twisted on top of her head staring at me.
"Wow is that pasta really made from rice?" she
questions.
No, I think to myself, it's not made of rice, they just write
that on the box to trick people. "Yes," I respond pleasantly.
"Why do you eat it, is it healthier or something?"
she questions innocently.
"Well actually, I'm on a wheat free diet," I answer
as I desperately try to think of a way to end the conversation as quickly as
possible. The last thing I feel like doing is giving a 1/2 hour lecture on
why I can't eat something as basic as bread.
"Oh wow," she gasps. "That must be so
difficult!" All I ever eat is wheat!"
"Yeah it is," I say as I turn to walk away.
That's right, I think all EVERYONE eats is wheat. So what does that make
me, weird? Well I guess so. I guess that's yet another thing to thank
Crohn's Disease for. It reminds me every single day, that indeed I am not
like everyone else. I'm different. I have a chronic illness. It will never
go away.
"Ilana, pick out some cookies and lets get out of
here!" my mom shouts as we enter the last aisle. I dawdle up to the
cookie shelf. "Score," I think to myself, because there
are TWO flavors of cookies to choose from today as opposed to the usual one.
After grabbing my cookie boxes I quickly scan the shelves in "my"
section of the store. I find it kind of ironic that I used to avoid this
section of the supermarket, the health food section, like a plague. Now I
practically live there. As I re enter the main aisle of the store, it
takes me a second to adjust to the noise level and bustling of people.
There's never much activity in "my" section, so returning to the
main store is like entering a busy city after leaving the rural country.
Next to me I notice a middle aged women yelling at a store manager,
"How can you NOT have the Chips Ahoy Extra Chunk low fat cookies."
"I'm uhh sorry Ma'am," he apologizes, "I'm sure you
can find something compatible," he says as he gestures to the whole aisle
brimming with different brands of cookies.
"Forget it," the woman sneers. "I'll
just go somewhere else." And with that she is gone. Geez, I think.
Get a grip. At least you can eat your cookies. How about those of us who
can't eat them? Of all the dumb, insignificant things to be worrying
about. Has it ever occurred to you that, your life could in fact be worse?
Well it has occurred to me. I used to be a normal kid and I could do what I
want. But now I can't. Because I'm not normal anymore. I have Crohn's
Disease. And it shows everywhere I go. Even the grocery store.