Lifestyle
#IAmMissJessies: Amy Bowllan’s Ah-Ha Moment
We are continuing our #IAmMissJessie’s campaign, sharing the inspiring stories of real women and their personal and professional journeys to their own definitions of success. Two-time Emmy Award winning journalist, turned teacher, Amy Bowllan, appeared to have all her ducks in a row, when it came to her professional life. However, as the old adage goes, “Nothing is ever quite as it seems.” An unexpected tragedy in her 20s could have been the catalyst for a well deserved mental breakdown for anyone else, only further motivated Amy to, as she says, “Expose the atrocities of life.” Amy did not allow the personal adversities of her 20s to deter her ambition or hold her back from achieving her professional goals, however this would not be the last Ah-Ha moment in her life. After noticing an abnormality in her breast in 2011, the happy wife and mother discovered she was suffering from Stage 2 Breast Cancer. This was the kind of life changing realization that really tests a person’s character and strength. Still fueled with relentless ambition and a desire to positively impact the world through education and valuable insight, Amy did not allow this tragedy to destroy her spirit. Instead, she perceived this as an opportunity to give back and utilizing her journalistic talents, she selflessly shared the details of her treatment, in an informative story for CBS News.
Amy’s Ah-Ha moments are not your conventional epiphanies, but I believe they are important to read. Amy’s story represents the depths of human resilience, upon refusing to be a victim to unfair circumstance. All of Amy’s Ah-Ha moments define what it means to be a survivor. Read as she candidly discusses her ability to overcome these seemingly unconquerable misfortunes, using what she has learned from these experiences as motivation to personally help contribute to the greater good.
Source: Facebook.com
My mom used to call me her haunt. I trailed behind her like a shadow – wouldn’t let her go anywhere without me being informed. I was the fifth girl and two boys followed after me. What made those times memorable was that I had a raspy voice (like a frog) and my hair was not the ‘fine’ texture of my sisters and later my brothers. So of course, I always heard from people, “Why didn’t you get the good hair?” Time after time those comments grated on my nerves – how the heck am I supposed to know about my hair?
Anyway, my AH-HA moments are as non traditional as I am because I use the AH-HA moments as I GOT YOU! You’re caught! And now you’re in trouble. My beady, luminous eyes would peer out of the window when motorcycle riders were racing down 113th Avenue, and I was the first person to call the local precinct for speeding. I was probably six years old.
When I started first grade, the first day I saw my new classmate, Jeffrey, take a paper off the teachers desk, AH-HA! I said, and I told on him! Why was he taking another sheet when she gave all of us ONE? Ms. Green looked at me and said hold out your hand, and I got a nice whack with a ruler – Catholic school back in the day wasn’t a joke.
My mother said to me everyday: “Amy, mind your own business! For Godsake! Who died and left you boss?!” In my mind I was thinking why does someone have to die to be a boss. I’m sure my mom was reacting to how brazen I was whenever she and my dad would go out to a party. They would leave the number of where they would be with our babysitter and when the babysitter was putting the boys to bed, and my sisters were watching tv, I would sneak into the kitchen, pick up the phone and dial the number ever so quietly. Those phone dials were loud back then – making the obligatory click clack sound. The folks on the other end knew who it was because this was my third time that evening that I had called to ‘check in’. I fell asleep waiting for my parents to come home.
When I turned eight, my sister called me the civic minded social worker because she found it hilarious that my obsession for justice with a froggy voice meant so much to me. When this little boy, in the Midwest got stuck in a well in his backyard, I faked being sick from school to watch the live coverage. News clippings were taped to my bedroom wall that I shared with my siblings – pulled the wall paper off too. When he was rescued, my mom said, “Now enough of this, Amy!”
Fast forward to my 20s, and my noisiness grew with me and outside of me. Now I was taking the trains and insisting people give their seats for those in need. I would clear my throat like thunder until the sleepy strap sitters would hear the hint to GET UP, there’s a woman on a cane. Hello?! At the time I was working in the newsroom, winning awards – taking risks – traveling to war torn areas – all to expose the atrocities of life. I put my life on the line every day for those AH-HA! Gotcha’ moments. It was fulfilling until early one Thursday morning I received a phone call that no one ever wants to receive no matter what time.
“Amy! Amy! Amy! Wake up! Abby’s been shot!”
My world stopped at 4:04am. My baby brother was shot in the back of the head and later died. An ex-con, white guy from Buffalo, out on parole killed my baby brother like he was a deer. Guess what I did? Yep! I put my reporter’s hat on, grabbed my boyfriend (now husband) at the time and we went on a mission to Buffalo. I walked in the DA’s office like I used to walk to his school when someone bothered him. My hair was pulled back and my eyes were now working like only a reporter knows how to work them. I was an undercover investigative producer and a reporter in Phoenix, so catching this creep would be easy for me. I told the DA, tell me everything about him. They knew he hung out at this club. I said. ME! ME! Pick me! I want to go in the club, undercover! I never went to the club, buy guess what AH-HA! They got him and he sits in a jail cell to this day.
AH-HA moments can also save your own life. In 2011 my son was accepted to a prestigious boarding school. The family went out to have dinner and the next morning I wake up, hair standing STRAIGHT UP, look down at my left breast and AH-HA there’s a teeny little dimple staring at me like I got you! I said NO! I got YOU! Yes – it was Stage 2 Breast Cancer. What my eyes have been seeing my entire life for the sake of others were now looking directly at me.
I’ll close by saying that whatever business endeavor you enter, keep your eyes open to possibilities, to people around you, to your inner voice and to God. My own moments are spent in quiet saying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows to the Blessed Mother. Find your comfort because no matter what type of A-HA you experience, you cannot live it alone. By the way, my mom still tells me to mind my own business.
Blessings to you…
Source: Facebook.com
#IamMissJessies
IG @coolyorkcity
Twitter @abowllan
My former blog I pioneered at School Library Journal has great resources
Bowllan’s Blog http://blogs.slj.com/bowllansblog/
By: Amy Bowllan
Source: facebook.com/missjessiesfans
Never let one of life’s roadblocks, or scary, intense Ah-Ha moments to completely throw you off your grind. Instead, look at it as a chance to do something different and make your own lane. Remember that every moment in life, even times of sorrow, are opportunities to be inspired and create something innovative and of immeasurable value.
