June 15, 2013 "BEFORE
CUSHINGS-FAMILY LIFE"
Posted June 16th, 2013 by Mark
Ghiassi
Many of you have responded and asked
me to write a little more about my myself:
I am 38 years old. I grew up in
Norwalk, California. I attended Leffingwell Christian High School and
graduated in 1992. I was in Student Council, cheer, softball, swimming. I
graduated from UC Irvine with my degree in Criminology and Drama. I love
singing and musical theater. I went to law school at Western State School
of Law in Fullerton, CA. I became an attorney in 2004. I had two goals in
elementary school, become a lawyer or a veternarian.
I was raised by my parents, Roger and
Sandy Drake. I have one sister, Cassie Fanton. During this time, my
sister married Sean, and I now have two nieces, Kylee and Kaitlyn.
In 2004, I started my own law
practice with a friend and I also met my husband. Mark and I met on a blind
date at BJ's Pizza in Long Beach, if you have been there, you will know the
pazookie is the best (chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on
top). Mark was wearing tight black pants, not so cool, I thought,. He
had his pager or phone attached to his belt. I thought, oh my!. However, I
overlooked that and his lovely fashion sense still exists today, better
with my help. The following weekend, Mark invited me to watch one of his
performances. Mark plays the French Horn and received his Masters in
French Horn Performance from USC. Mark is a teacher and teaches band at
two elementary schools.
So I sat in the audience by myself,
waiting for him to come out on intermission. Mark looked so handsome in his
tuxedo and still does. From then on, Mark and I have not gone a day without
some sort of communication, via telephone, instant message, in person, or text
message. Mark met my family and they liked him right away.
When Mark met Kylee for the first
time, Cassie, Mark and I met at El Torrito to eat. Kylee was only
about 1.5 yrs old and the cutest thing ever. She started crawling all over the
table and making funny noises. Mark who had never been around little babies,
handled it well. We took our food home to Cassie's. That is how I knew he would
be able to tough it all out. lol.
When my youngest niece, Kaitlyn was
born, Mark was there for her birth. Well not in the room, that would be weird
for my sister. lol. But this sealed the family deal for him and he
proposed to me.
We were married in January 2007. Both
my nieces were flower girls, poor Kaitlyn didn't make it down the aisle she got
sick. Even our first dance included picking Kaitlyn up and carrying
her with us. Mark and I do not have children due to me being sick, but
Kylee and Kaitlyn are like daughters to both of us. For years,
we have attended all of their school and non school events, have taken
them to Disneyland, the park, even musicals. Not sure why we took Kylee to see
the Long Beach Ballet Nutcracker, she fell asleep through it. I think we, as
adults, get more excited about these things than they do. She can't even
remember this. But she does remember going to Sea World and being picked to
meet Seemore, the sea lion, when we took her. Score for Auntie and Uncle Mark!
Mark and I were lucky and rented a
house with a pool the first several years of our marriage. The girls, family
and friends would come over all the time in summer and we had tons of BBQ's. We
have taught them how to make s'mores and so many other things. We would
have swimming competitions on noodles, of course I let them win. Now they can
out swim both of us and Sean, maybe not Cassie.
Mark and I bought our first home
together in May of 2010. We were so excited. The day I found out and
received the key, Cassie and the girls met me at the house. Mark was at
work. They brought over sparkling cider and cups to celebrate in the empty
house. But guess what, I promised them we would buy a house with a pool for
them and we did! So since Mark wasn't there we let them jump in the pool
fully clothed and took a picture to show Mark. Yes, Mark is the more strict
one, he has learned to loosen up a bit. He had to with me being his wife.
Especially when I will play jokes on him in the house, like having a water fight
in the house, or scaring him when he comes out of the room. I even made Mark
put on that green facial mask that is in one of our pictures on here and
pretend to be the Grinch for a picture.
The summer of 2010 was the last
summer I have been able to fully enjoy with everyone without being in some
sort of pain physically. In August 2010, I was injured. I was at Glen Ivy
with friends for a birthday party. I was doing water aerobics and felt a snap
in my calf muscle. This is where my journey to Cushings began I believe, if not
a little earlier which I will explain in another update/post.
I hope this helps everyone get to
know me more and who I am. I will continue to try and share more about who I
was before Cushings and who I am now. The disease is not who I am. It has
affected my life in unimaginable ways.
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