{"id":795,"date":"2013-08-24T09:10:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T09:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=795"},"modified":"2013-08-20T18:21:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T18:21:12","slug":"your-name-in-illness-and-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/08\/your-name-in-illness-and-pain.html","title":{"rendered":"Your Name In Illness and Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>I’d just come from the dreaded fasting bloodwork and was standing in line at the local coffee shop. As people put in their orders and gave their names to the order taker, I marvelled at how exotic some of them sounded. “Sheena.” “Jasmine.” “Rodrigo.”<\/p>\n

My name seemed to become more and more plain as the line moved up. Which got me to thinking…<\/p>\n

What if\u00a0I went through the day with another, different, perhaps more daring name? Would people react to me differently? Would I feel any different?<\/p>\n

Part of my musing came from an experience I had a few years ago, when I gave a talk to a group of elementary school students about how to be kind to people who are “differently abled.”<\/p>\n

I had explained that, because of lupus, I had lost all of my hair and had to wear wigs. But, rather than be sad about it, I made it a kind of adventure, choosing different colors and styles depending on the day and what I was going to wear.<\/p>\n

One of the little boys,\u00a0 no more than perhaps six or seven, raised his hand and asked, “When you take off your brown wig and put on the yellow one, do people treat you differently?”<\/p>\n

I laughed, “You mean, do people treat me ‘blonde?'”, thinking first of the age-old stereotype of “being blond.”<\/p>\n

The boy nodded. I thought a little more. Then, I answered, “Well, in fact, when I wear the brown wig, people call me ‘Ma’am,’ but when I wear the blonde wig, people call me, ‘Miss.'”<\/p>\n

I was a bit too tired and coffee-deprived to think of a really good, really exotic name for myself when I got up to the order taker that morning. But, maybe there is something to the name thing…as there is with the wig thing…<\/p>\n

Maybe, the next time it’s a gray day with blah overtones, I’ll come up with something. And see where it takes me!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}