Why Blog?

My niece is visiting for a few days. She's a funny child, if you can call a twenty-four year old a child. She's been going to college since she graduated from high school but hasn't managed to get her degree in pharmacy yet.

Now, that's not her fault. It's almost like everyone and everything is against her. She's her parents youngest child, so they didn't want her to "leave home yet" after graduation. So, she enrolled and spent three and a half years at a junior college. The college "made" this child take all the low level courses they have that pertained to her major - pre-pharmacy. Sabrina is what you would term extremely bright, especially in math and science. She had no business being in pre-algebra, or even algebra. She could have tested out and gone on to higher level math. But the college refused to allow that. So, she marked time.

A year and half ago, she finally managed to transfer to a university in another state and start her junior year classes there. Of course they had requirements, but she tested out of all the higher level math classes and all of the science classes they would allow her to test out of. She took her required courses and then the extra courses they added to the pre-pharmacy list.

This semester she was supposed to actually be in pharamcy school - but life happens. When she was twelve she had open-heart surgery for a congenital heart defect. When she transferred to the university, she climbed three flights of stairs early in the semester and passed out as soon as she sat down at her desk. The diagnosis, her heart condition (a clogged aorta) had reoccurred and one of her heart valves had begun leaking more. The recommendation, surgery to open the aorta again and replace the valve would be needed within one to two years.

So she got a handicap permit to use the elevator and continued school. She planned to have the surgery this past summer. What with one thing and another, you know doctors and their tests, the surgery didn't happen as my niece planned. Now she is getting to take this fall semester off from school to undergo surgery and recover.

She's very frustrated and is wondering what to do while she waits. The doctor doesn't want her to work until after the surgery and she has recovered. But she can't stand to sit around doing nothing. I suggested that she take up blogging.

She looked at me like I was crazy. Her "weak" areas are in writing down words. I couldn't say it was a language problem, the child speaks, reads, and writes three languages fluently - English, Arabic, and Hebrew. She's half Arab-Israeli and half American. She was born in Israel and lived there until she was seventeen. She only thinks she can't write.

She was telling us tonight about her brother's oldest daughter, another bright child. My great-niece does have a gift for writing and loves to put words down on paper. I got to thinking that maybe she should have a blog, but she's a little young - I think. But Sabrina isn't and I think it would do her good. Since blogging is simply writing about topics that come to mind. I think it would be fun for her.

She tells a good story, verbally. She's just concerned about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Those are weak areas for her, but with the spell check and the freedom to talk about whatever she wants I think it would do her good. So, I'm going to make her start a blog before she leaves to go back to her home. By the time the semester is over and the surgery has past, I may be able to get her to "like" writing a little more or at least not be frightened of it.