Each one of us is a unique individual, we’re each ‘one in a million.’ Usually that’s a good thing, the world would be a very boring place if we all looked and acted alike. I love that my kids each have such distinct strengths and personalities, and although you can tell they’re siblings, they each have a different hair color and a different eye color.

When I call myself ‘one in a million’ it’s usually with a roll of my eyes, because if something weird is going to happen to someone it will most likely be me. If someone is going to have one of the rare side effects that are rattled off at the end of drug commercials it will also probably be me.

I live with a disease I’ve had since my early 20s. When I first came down with it it took a few months before I was correctly diagnosed. By that time I was extremely ill and one of my symptoms was bruises up and down my legs that hurt every time I took a step. My doctor, a top specialist in the field, had never seen that happen before and was so excited he called in a number of his colleagues to take a look.

I was so sick at the time that I didn’t even care that a room full of strangers were gazing down raptly at my unshaven legs.

The disease has flared up a number of times over the years, and each time it has my doctor has prescribed different medications to find the one that would work best for me. 

The first few didn’t work that well. The next one was an actually a medication used for cancer patients; it gave me horrible aches and flu-like symptoms within an hour, one of its uncommon side effects.

After that I was given an infusion every three months. The first few times everything seemed fine. But then I woke up one morning and couldn’t lift my arms past my hips. Turns out I had an extremely rare reaction from the medication – it induced lupus.

Luckily the symptoms wore off as the medication worked its way out of my system.

The next medication the doctor suggested we try was another one used for cancer that was actually a type of poison. I said thanks but no thanks to that one.

Even my dreams are one in a million. Two of them that are reoccurring are similar to dreams people commonly have but end up taking drastically different turns. 

In the first dream I feel a piece of a tooth crack off for no apparent reason and I spit it out. Suddenly more and more pieces crack off until all of my teeth have crumbled to bits and I’m trying desperately to spit them all out. When most people have this dream their teeth just fall out, they don’t break into pieces first.

The second dream has to do with my fear of heights. I’m falling from the sky (again for no apparent reason), but unlike most people who have this dream I don’t wake up before I hit the ground. Instead, I hit the ground and then bounce up higher! This repeats a few times with me bouncing higher after every fall, until I eventually wake myself up because I can’t breathe as I’m speeding downward. (Which is why I can’t ride a rollercoaster).

I spoke with a dream interpreter about these two dreams a number of years ago. He had never heard of them and couldn’t give me an answer on what they meant.

One night I was awakened by a strange sound that I thought was part of a dream. Looking over to where the sound was coming from, I wished it actually had been a dream. My cat was on my nightstand busily dipping her paw into my glass of water, licking it off, and then repeating the process.

I’ve brought a glass of water to bed my entire life. What are the chances that this was the first time it had happened?

Be proud to be one in a million, being that way makes you you.