At the age of 11, in 1965, my family was transferred from a normal, orderly life in Norman, Oklahoma. I was a Girl Scout, had many friends and I attended a wonderful elementary school with a great teacher.  

Before I knew it, I had arrived in a foreign country I knew nothing about, Beirut, Lebanon. My father was a State Department Diplomat and besides a series of 13 horrible injections like cholera, tetanus, typhoid, yellow fever, and many more..., we were all given the diplomatic maroon passports which granted my family special priveleges. The one thing my father told all four of his children was 

 "don't forget whose last name you have"!

My father was my hero, and I never forgot the importance of respecting our family name ~ Lunsford.

In June Of 1967, my family was given two hours notice  to pack one bag per family member (there were six of us) because Israel may attack Lebanon. We were being evacuated to some unknown place, although, I believe my dad knew.   We were the last flight to leave and when we finally left, we were on our way to Istanbul, Turkey. We stayed there for two weeks and then flew to the United States to start our home leave which is granted every two years.

In August Of 1967, we returned to Beirut post war and arrived to a completely changed Lebanon! Whereas Beirut was known as the "Diamond of the Middle East", it was now a war torn country that I had a hard time even recognizing.  I have to say though, this was a blessing in my life because I was introduced to the world of refugees from many countries such as Palestine, Armenia, And Other surrounding Countries. 

At 13 Years Old, My Brain Had To Understand The Words "Refugees", "Anti-American", "War, And What "Destitute" Meant In Relation To Our New Refugees. It was heartbreaking for me at 15 years old.  It was this experience that made me an "empath". To this day, I can look into the eyes of anyone and know exactly what they are feeling.  I know emotions, and have become a life coach to help others become comfortable with emotions and uncertainty.

I became a Registered Nurse after much tribulation and trials. I was to start my last year of of nursing school at  The University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1985, when my youngest son, who was only three years old at the time, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I was given four hours to go home and pack a bag (or two), while my son lie in the Pediatric ICU at Humana Hospital Sunrise. The Flight For Life air ambulance from UCLA was enroute to Las Vegas to pick up Daniel and myself to transport back to UCLA for treatment.

 He started treatment immediately.  I was given a huge packet of papers to fill out, a questionnaires which involved all the cleaners we use in our house, questions on 

do we live near a power plant, are we on a well, and many more questions.  Most of my answers were yes, yes, and yes again. Never mind the fact that Las Vegas, Nevada is well known for nuclear underground testing. This was my ultimate understanding of how "uncertainty" feels and is.  

I was scared, mostly because to me, Leukemia meant a death sentence.  I signed the papers without even reading them and told the pediatric oncology team "I trust

 you with my son's life, please do no harm".  They were wonderful!

Throughout Daniel's three years of chemotherapy and other treatments, he came down with pneumocystis pneumonia. I wasn't a nurse yet, but I knew he was very very ill. The Pediatric ICU doctor told me Daniel was critical, and he needed a lung biopsy immediately. He asked me if I wanted to have it done at Sunrise (Las Vegas) or at UCLA, and I chose UCLA. Once again, I had to go home, pack a bag and we flew on the fixed wing air ambulance to UCLA, not knowing what lies ahead for us. Daniel was too sick for a lung biopsy and immediately was placed on a ventilator which would breathe for him. His ICU doctor and the Pediatric Oncologist let me know his chances of survival were slim. Again, more uncertainty I found myself working through.

Daniel got Hepatitis C through a platelet transfusion in his initial treatment. I didn't know this for about 10 more years. There were many more instances we went through on our journey with Daniel's Leukemia. Daniel was also diagnosed with Polio It was brutal, and he was only four years old. Again, an emergency trip to UCLA. He's had many other instances where life through him curveballs and I guided him through it all which you can follow on the upcoming podcast I will post later.

For the first time in my short life, I felt emotion, sorrow, confusion, loss. None of these emotions were for me or my family, these emotions were for others.  

 I quit jobs that I knew weren't going to fulfill me, or just weren't working out for me, and I knew it was time to move on.  More uncertainty to work through. My motto in life is "everything always works out".

I learned through all of my life experiences, how to become comfortable with uncertainty.  I want to share with you what I have learned and how I prepared myself for the unknown.

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