Dear World of Warcraft, today I have dinged to my 30th level in life. And before you just think to yourself 'big fucking deal?' and leave with a downvote, hear me out?
When I was 18, WoW was released, I had played Warcraft 3, and 2 and 1 before it. I loved the franchise and embraced the MMO. A few months after release I received earth shattering news. I had cancer. What 18 year old expects that kind of news at such a young age? Nobody I raided with knew of my condition, I kept it hidden from all but a few people. The only person on my raid team that knew was my Raid leader, Tom. He always made sure I was up for the raid week, even though I was undergoing chemo at the time. It was always something to look forward to, playing in another world, being able to forget my own, even just for a few hours. When we were in Zul Gurub, I was actually fortunate enough to win the very first Tiger mount on my server. A mount to this day I still ride with pride!
Months went by and my doctors told me that without surgery that I probably wouldn't make it to my next birthday. It was risky, but dammit, I was a stubborn little shit and I wanted to have a life. The odds of me living past 20 were grim, but to 30, not even possible.
Well, I kicked cancer's ass. I got to see Burning crusade, which I loved! Still, the possibility of my cancer coming back was high. Every few months I would go back for scans, always clean. I began to really look forward to the future!
When Wrath hit, I was ready for it! Little did I know that I was going to meet someone that to this day, would be the greatest friend I would ever have. I was healing on my priest, just doing a Violet Hold heroic, and my tank was some fresh 80 paladin. He really was an awful tank. I wasn't in the best mood and I'll admit, I got so frustrated with not even being able to stop to drink without him dying, I hearthed out on him. I didn't even remember this guy's name. A few weeks later, some new tank joins my guild and I was assigned to him healing-wise. He was so great! Great at pulls, really good at self cooldown management, and always kept things off me if I got healing aggro. Little did I know, it was the same tank from Violet hold. I didn't remember his name! It wasn't until I spoke to this tank in voice chat for the first time that he told me who he was, and oh boy he remembered me.
Well, weeks go by, this tank and I began to talk more and more. We found that we lived quite close and he decided to come meet me. We went to Atlanta, a good halfway point, I was in Alabama at the time and he was from Florida. It took us all of 5 minutes to fall for each other and to this day, I haven't gotten rid of him since. For the next 7 and a half years, to this day, I have World of Warcraft to thank, again.
These may seem like stupid, trivial things to you, but this game has meant the World (heh) to me. It got me through the worst days of my life, and introduced me to the best days of my life. I am 10 years cancer free, I just dinged to my 30th level in life, a level I was never supposed to get to. I write this with tears in my eyes because I am so thankful to be here today.
I love you all
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