As a little girl, I watched the Disney princess movies and always wanted to become a princess and live that fairy tale life, but I quickly realized things are not perfect like they are in the movies. When I was young I had such a hard time keeping food down, I would have random 104 degree fevers, I would sleep for 24-36 hours straight, and my body would ache for weeks with no solution. I was in and out of the hospital with surgeries, needle pricks, tests, and everything in-between with nothing being found, but I was in so much pain. After years of testing and numerous doctors reviewing my symptoms, a group of doctors finally found my problems. I have a whole extra loop in my colon, PFAPA (a fever disorder where my body attacks itself), Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (a bone/muscle disorder where my muscles and ligaments are very stretched over and around my joints and bones), Hydrocephalus stage 2 (Too much fluid on my brain), Allergies, and Asthma. So you could say I was one sick girl. However, I still wanted to be a “normal” kid. Looking back, I now realize my illnesses combined have given me a life I never could have imagined.
In October of 2010, my parents divorced. I was six at the time and did not understand the full effect of what divorce meant. For the next ten years of my life, I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions trying to figure out who I am without a full-time father in my life. When you are six you think that your parents are living that fairy tale life that you see in the movies. You look up to them. You worship them because they are the first people you ever met. They created you. I was one of those girls. I thought I want to find someone just like my dad to love. A couple of years after they divorced I began to understand what divorce truly means, and I was heartbroken. Someone I looked up to my whole life broke-up our family. Still to this day, I am hurt.
In December of 2010, my mom and I moved to her hometown in Kentucky. My grandparents lived there, and I was beyond ecstatic because I was getting a pink bedroom. Obviously, at the time I did not realize I would not be seeing my father every day like I was used to doing. When that realization set in it was hard and heartbreaking.
I started at a new school in January, and it was a K-12th school. I was so scared and intimidated because there were so many people much larger than me walking around and towering over me like they did not even notice me. Everything in those moments felt so wrong and not the fairy-tale I wanted to live. Life was not perfect.
I survived that year, and in the fall I started a new school that was only K-2nd grade. To me, it was a perfect place. I quickly made friends, and I was truly happy. Because I was feeling better physically I turned to thinking more about others, and I quickly noticed that often my friends were wearing the same clothes multiple days in a row; that they were always hungry; and that they were not as clean as I was. This is where I developed a passion to help others. I started sneaking them lunches, giving them my clothes, and making sure that they had what they needed for school. Little did I know that the concern that started with my friends would turn into so much more.
My mom and my grandparents worked at a small private college in her hometown, so everyone knew our family. My mom started an event called Shoes for the Soul. Every year students from select schools in the county would come to get their feet washed; get new socks, shoes, backpack, and school supplies; and play games with the college students, many of whom were athletes. This experience at a college campus made a lasting impression on these young people because, for many of them, this was the only time they had ever been on a college campus. The last year that my mom worked at the college, she ran the front part of the event, and I ran the back part. The back part is where we kept all the backpacks, shoes, and school supplies. She let me run it over college students, how cool! Toward the end of the event, one of the football players brought over this little girl to get her new shoes. We were out of her size so we had to give her shoes two sizes too big, but she put them on, and was so excited. Then she turned to me and said, “I want to be just like you one day.” Well, of course, I was humbled beyond words, and I knew right then that I was meant to help others and make a true difference in the world.
2016, the huge year where I went from a small-town girl to a big city girl. My mom and I moved to a town just outside of Nashville, TN. Since my parents divorced my mom and I have become so close and that relationship continues to grow. Starting middle school in a new town and school was terrifying. But within three weeks of being there I won Student Council Vice President and later that year I became Student Council President. These experiences helped to build a firm foundation for my dream, but little did I know how hard and rewarding it would be.
2018, New Year’s night I received a phone call from a No Caller ID so I did not answer it, but the person left a voicemail. I played the message. With an altered voice, the person said I was terrible at Student Council; I should die, and I was worthless. I was crushed. I was at an all-time low. When I pulled myself together all I wanted to do was to prove the person so wrong. That spring I ran a food drive for my school, and we raised 90,000 pounds of food, a school record!
February 2018, I was selected as the only middle school recipient in the state of Tennessee to win a community service award given by the Prudential Foundation. A few days later we received a phone call from an organization called the WE Movement. They are an international organization with a goal to inspire youth to make a difference in their communities. They wanted to recognize my mom and me in some way. We did countless “audition” videos and were selected first runner-up for the trip to go to Africa to volunteer with their villages for a week. However, they called us and said they still really wanted us to feature
us. So they flew down from their headquarters in Canada to Nashville and filmed us packing toiletry bags. They even hired people to do our hair and make-up! Then we each did an hour-long interview and were filmed for what seemed like countless hours. That afternoon I was exhausted but they kept filming. Then, we started hearing someone play on their guitar. Well, we live in music city and so that was not uncommon whatsoever. But my mom and I both stopped packing the bags and just listened. The music got closer and closer, and to our amazement we saw country music star Dierks Bentley walking in, singing his brand new song, Woman Amen. My mom and I were both so shocked. She pulled me back, and in the video, you hear my whole voice go up an octave. When he finishes singing to us he talks with us and asks us to be in his new music video, Woman Amen, and to fly to Los Angeles with him and be a part of WE Day LA. Of course, I was in. This was a dream come true. But my mom hesitated before saying yes. She stated that so many people were way more deserving of recognition than we are -- we were just doing the right thing. Dierks Bentley said back to her that our doing the right thing is exactly why he wanted to recognize us both -- because we do not think we deserve it, but in his opinion, we do!
So, two southern girls took on the west coast. My memories of LA are something that I will forever cherish -- from being in an elevator with Selena Gomez -- to sitting in an arena with 16,000 kids who earned their way to WE Day by volunteering – to seeing our story shared in front of 16,000 kids and then later on national television blew me away. I was living the life that I never imagined, but also through all of it, I was able to inspire others to make a difference. Say what?! That is the best thing that could have ever happened.
In June 2018, my nonprofit Jumbled Dreams was established. Oh gosh if I had known in 2018 the love, tears, and so much passion the nonprofit would bring, I would have called you crazy. But the stories I have heard, the homeless I have met, and the volunteers and community who have come together over the past two years to help me fulfill my dream are really overwhelming. Over 30,000 toiletries have been collected, thousands of people have been served, hundreds of volunteers have helped to serve, and the love that has been poured out by everyone, I will forever cherish.
I am only a sophomore in high school so who knows what is written in the stars for me, but for you who are reading this I want you to know, you are not alone, you are so loved. GIRL go conquer those dreams because if you do, you will live your own fairytale where dreams do come true. Not one person is perfect, we are all unique in our own ways, and being unique is cool!
Be you and chase your dreams because those dreams have no limits!
-Sydnee Floyd
Franklin, TN