Time is a funny thing.
Even though the number of days remains (pretty much) the same every year, time seems to speed up as we get older.
It also sometimes becomes less significant.
My oldest sister is 10 years my senior. We've always been close, but the age gap definitely factored into our relationship when I was younger.
But as the years have gone by and I've matured, the number of years that separated us has become less important.
But the time I have left with her is important.
During a visit about two months ago, we chatted like usual about the latest things going on in our lives, but we mainly we talked about how happy she is to be back in school and about her gearing up for clinicals.
When she first mentioned having to get a physical examination before she started, I didn't think much of it. Unlike me, my sister does everything health-wise by the book, so a physical didn't seem like a big deal.
But before the next sentence left her mouth, I saw her expression change drastically.
"The doctor was concerned about some symptoms I've had off and on," she said.
She went on to tell me what abnormalities she's had and how often, and then she said what the doctor was worried about, the word everyone dreads.
Cancer.
The doctor voiced his concerns and even opened up about how he's had several friends die from the type of cancer he thinks she may have, all because they weren't diagnosed early enough.
It's not the first health scare my sister has had, and I could hear the fear in her voice as she spoke.
When she visited me last week and we had our usual catch up conversation, I asked her if she had gotten her tests done yet.
She hadn't, and I knew why.
Like many other people during the economic crisis, my sister lost her job a few years ago.
In order to turn a terrible situation into a hopeful one, she decided to go back to school for respiratory therapy.
But until she officially joins the medical field, she can't afford medical insurance.
Like many Americans, I was glued to my computer Thursday morning, waiting to find out if the Supreme Court would uphold or strike down President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
If you would have asked me a year or two ago about my thoughts on our health care system, I would have told you it was flawed and would have left it at that.
But now it's personal.
I've always thought the United States was behind when it came to health care, but I never fully educated myself, as a lot of people haven't.
Some people may criticize me for not looking more in depth until it affected me, and they can go on right ahead.
They're right. But the same thing might happen to them.
The number 30 million keeps floating around. That's how many more people will be covered thanks to this mandate.
But I think The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said it best, "But that vastly understates the true number of winners because millions of other Americans - including many who oppose the act - would have been at risk of being one of those 30 million."
I've always had great insurance through my mom and it's something that I, probably like a lot of Americans, have taken for granted.
The possibility of not having health insurance never crossed my mind, and I certainly never thought about my loved ones not having it.
You never know what terrible thing will happen to you or your family in the future.
We won't know for a while what, or if, anything is wrong with my sister.
But as I got the news that Affordable Care Act was upheld, thoughts of hope and my sister's face popped into my head.
-รก
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