Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

"No matter how poor you think you are if you have a family, you have EVERYTHING." ~ Anonymous Two years ago on December 19, 2014 to be precise I wrote my first post titled FAMILY IS EVERYTHING . The truth is our family has been through some pretty tough times. Back then we were recovering from some fairly harsh blows that year on all fronts to be honest. The thing is this: as a family we are stronger together, each of us individually bringing a strength which fortifies our bonds, reinforcing the ties that bind us. And just like in 2014, our bonds in 2016 are still unbreakable, unshakable and inseparable. Doesn't matter what bombards us, attempting to destroy or target our family. It doesn't matter who or what may try to tear us apart I know this to be true: we will not abandon those we love. Simply put, family is everything and so today I am revisiting this subject. Let me start with this... as a family, our goal is not to appear happier than anyone else, not to o...

Life is a funny thing. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is completely safe. We can try and predict all we want but we cannot fully anticipate life’s twists and turns. Life is beautiful this way. Everything can fall apart only to be revealed as stained glass once broken and restored. Memories they too can be tricky. Just like our emotions they can become fuzzy, blurred, vague, unclear and distorted. I’ve heard it said before a picture says a thousand words. Memories are in many ways like a photograph. When we invision a moment in our thoughts sometimes those memories aren’t as beautiful or as horrible as we imagine. It’s when we actually look at a memory captured on film we can see the truth revealed. Our faces and our eyes they don’t lie. Happiness, love and joy or even hurt, sadness and anger speak for us. In those photographs our unsaid words are captured.  I know for my family, we’ve had many more happy memories than sad. The problem is sometimes those sad, hurtful mem...

When you stop, thinking about the ladies you call your sisters, your best friends, those who share in your uncanny, quirky and zany ways who comes to mind?  I don’t mean a number, a title or some cute hashtag, I'm talking the kind of girlfriends you can completely rely on, those you trust, who hold your complete confidence, I'm speaking of  your closest allies, the friends who tell you the truth no matter what. I'm thankful, I have these kinds of friends, the sort of kindred spirit's who know your soul deeply, both the dark and illuminated spaces of your heart. These are the kind of kinship's you just don’t know how you’d live without. Some move in and out of my life at different times, yet remain tied to my heart. By God;s grace time never seems to diminish our bond. While all are kindred,some are closer than a sister.These are the friends so close they feel my sadness without  me ever having to say a word. Mindy Kaling sums it best as far as I’m concerned, ...

My parents love story started some 46 years ago. Two people, two families, two different paths, crossed and entwined into one story. Both knew pain, hurt and were wounded early in life. Their stories are not that different from yours or mine, they met, fell in love, were married and four years later I was born, their only child. Life was good; we traveled, shared family dinners, laughed, and suffered loss, moved from place to place with each of dad’s new orders and then later when his civilian jobs called. Close really doesn’t begin to cover the bond our family has always shared.  Growing up I saw my parents love story unfold, sitting in awe of the love they shared. When my dad first met my mom, she was a Philly beauty, just 19 and still recovering from a deep personal loss. My dad was a southern gentleman, 23, home from Vietnam, just out of the army deciding on what to do and where to go next. Their meeting to any stranger would seem like chance, but to those who know the...

I’ve learned something really important over the last four months and that’s the importance of family. Many times we get overwhelmed in the process of planning family gatherings, especially over the holidays but the truth is family reunions are made for renewing bonds’. In 2014 I was blessed to have taken part in two family reunions and one rather large family gathering. Looking back on all three,  I realize how important these bonds truly are, not just in theory, but in real life experience and how they bring us together. Family is one of the greatest connections we have. We’re made and many times defined by how we see ourselves through our family’s eyes. Our families impact and sculpt us, sometimes through destructive and turbulent ways and other times with stillness, peace and harmony. Their very act of accepting or rejecting us can decide the direction we take in life. Webster’s Dictionary defines connections as this: The act of connecting, the state of being connected, o...

Eight years ago I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. To say life handed me a curve ball is a gross understatement. I was devastated, in shock and lost for about a week. I spent my time replaying those four little words trying to figure out my next move. I looked around, wondering, what was the point of any of it, cancer at 32 years old, married less than a decade to the love of my life. I'm an only child, what was this going to do to my parents? And our boys, oh, and what this monster was going to steal from them. But in asking myself those questions, I realized I had much more to fight for than just my own life; I was fighting for my all of my family, for my children and their futures. Besides, who was this tipsy, drunken beast anyway, trying to tell me what to do and where to go? Huh, that wasn’t going to happen, not if I had any say in the matter! Anyone who knows me knows I’m a fighter, I don’t give up easily and cancer was not going to take me down without a ...