No Allergies!!

This morning I went for a jogg outside and the fresh smell of spring, flowers, trees and grass was delighting my olfactory senses. I was thanking God as I was running that when this amazing season comes around bringing life everywhere, I don't have to hide inside scared that allergies might trigger. I am very greatful for being allergy-free!

April 7th, 2004

I just got a call from my mother. All my family is back in Romania where I am from and I know that if my cell phone rings and I see "Ioan Ciupe" as caller ID (my dad's name), there is something serious going on and I must pick up. It was my mother and she just wanted to hear my voice and to tell me that she loved me, thought of me the whole day and prayed for me. It took me a few moments to realize what she meant by all these.

Today's significance totally slipped my mind although it's one of the BIGGEST, GREATEST, AMAZING reasons I am full of hope, faith and optimism. It was a date when back in 2004 I had a surgery performed in Romania. It was an operation to remove my left salivary gland because it was contaminated with cancerous cells. The surgery was successful and a few weeks after I recovered, I continued with six weeks of radiation treatment. The entire experience happened so fast that I personally didn't even have time to realize what I had, the not so pleasant outcome that I could have had and finally the amazing miracle God performed on me. I am alive today, cancer free and full of gratitude for this amazing gift God gave me for the third time: LIFE!!

(I say third time because the first time was when I was just first born, 29 years ago, then secondly was when I received the eternal life, and thirdly when God extended my earthly existence... my words are too poor to describe this special gift).

It's in my name!

First of all I want to say how honored I am to join this amazing ‘experiment’. I feel so privileged to be involved with these talented artists and women whom I’m looking forward to know and be inspired by.

Who am I? My name is Felicia Ciupe Oland and I am 29 years old. My name, Felicia comes from Latin and it means ‘happy, happiness.’ Most of the people who know me would say the name fits me perfectly. I am indeed a happy person, optimistic and with a positive outlook in life. I do appreciate my name now more than I did when I was little and I would ask my parents why didn’t they give me a more ordinary name… Felicia was too unique and different for me at the time. Funny enough, as I grew up and matured, those words: unique, different and other synonyms like original, creative, unusual were my favorite in everything I did: from clothes, to taste in art, culture, movies, to hobbies, friends, lifestyle in general.

I feel that hope is in my name. And happiness is something that goes hand in hand with hope, it’s like a deal I get, one for two. If I am happy, I am hopeful and if I have hope, I am happy.
Thanks for my name, “Mami” and “Tati” (Romanian for mom and dad).