(dedicated to Stephanie Navarre on being diagnosed with cancer 1990)

©1990 M. Bennett Hooper

If I was Stephanie I wouldn’t want people who lack courage to tell me to be courageous if I was Stephanie.
If I was Stephanie I would bask in the glow of each and every day as I marveled at the uniqueness of my creation for there is none other on earth exactly like me.

If I was Stephanie I would show the world what true growth is as I look into the faces of my living legacies
which are my children.
So like me yet uniquely different from me and remember that
Where I came from they also came.
Gifts from God from another time.

If I was Stephanie I would enjoy the true joy that my existence means to those who know me, think of me, and most of all love me.
If I was Stephanie I would know that life’s mystery is really no mystery after all, having come, having seen, having been a special person in a world crying out for special people.

If I was Stephanie I would smile today because true Madonna’s’ are at their best when smiling.
If I was Stephanie I wouldn’t want people who lack courage to tell me to be courageous.
I would want those who know the true meaning of love to share it, write about it, and smile.
IF I WAS STEPHANIE.

(Stephanie, a New Orleans, Louisiana native has been a cancer survivor since 1990 and now resides in Baton Rouge)