When fashion saves you Fashion has always been a part of my life since I was a child. I used to play with remnants and embroidered buttons while my grandmother – she was a seamstress – was working in front of her foot pedal sewing machine to create tailored coats and blazers. She passed away when I was an adolescent and I started to study foreign languages following one of her wishes, taught English for a while and then dedicated myself to my current job in the field of tourism communication. That passion for details, the love for refined fabrics that my grandmother had taught to me kept on living, coming out every time I was doing some shopping. But it started to demand something more important than the outfit of the day. As I was approaching the age of 50, on an ordinary day, I began to believe that I needed to fill my life – already packed with a wonderful hubby, a son and a daughter, a job, household chores and two turtles that lucky for me go on lethargy in winter – with something I really liked. Aware of the difficulties, I promised myself I would be able to find more time for my passion; indeed, I had finally understood that when you do what you like, tiredness leaves space to enthusiasm and everyone around you enjoys your serenity. So, in my spare time, I succeeded in going back to study again, exploring with joy the new areas of fashion and image consultancy. Soon after I started my blog on fashion. I was so happy that I had found again the energy and the enthusiasm of a child. But at the beginning of this year my life changed completely. I was diagnosed with colon cancer, underwent two surgeries and started chemotherapy. Colon cancer to a woman like me who does not drink alcohol or eat red meat, who loves organic food! Why to me, at the age of 52, when you feel that you do not have to waste any precious second of life? Why to me now that I wanted to follow my passion? I do not know if it was for my grandmother’s prayers, but I dare say that fashion saved me and gave me the courage and strength to accept the disease with serenity. In the few days just before every new chemo treatment, when I was a bit better without medicines, I realized I could plan my work. So I started to take pictures and collect materials to get in advance the things I will have needed for post writing during the bad days. There was no time for despair, every single moment of those special days was gold to me. My blog on fashion, my social accounts, all deserved the smiling and friendly person I had decided to be. It wasn’t and isn’t easy but I prefer to dedicate myself to what I enjoy most, rather than to think constantly about the disease. Fashion is my passion and has saved my life. Now that I am recovering from side effects I can see how important it is to discover one’s own inclination and follow it. It will help you any time and above all when life decides to go on the other way. During the therapy, I had also been able to reflect on things that are usually taken for granted. When our life is turned upside down, we have the right to let the pain come out; butch it’s up to us to find a new road, improve the present and search for tomorrow’s happiness. We also need to love ordinary life: that is, the monotony that we sometimes hate, and instead look at life as a kind of precious gift that can be taken away unexpectedly. Last but not least, we should always be thankful for what we receive every day from our beloved ones, the Very Important People that surround us every day in silence, notwithstanding hard changes. They do it for love without pretending anything. | 
