Lavendaire reflects on six lessons she learned at 26 in her birthday reflections.

When you are in hospital for a long period of time, your world becomes very small. The ceiling above your bed. The sound of machines. The routine of nurses coming in and out. The waiting. The hoping.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. After a gentle spring shower, the grass looks a richer green; forsythia brightens the roadside with bursts of yellow; magnolia buds, shy and pink, are ...