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

  Two thousand twenty-two proved to be a tough year for me. I'm sure that can be said for a lot of folks really. Life happens, right? But on the flip side that’s not to say it wasn’t a good year. Or amazing for that matter. Because it was. One of the best truthfully.  We traveled, experienced life outside our box, reconnected with old friends, made long needed improvements to our home, faced our demons and created some pretty amazing memories. So, how was it a hard- pressed, taxing year? Well, life can and is a constant contradiction. Am I right? I mean life is basically a balancing act between Ying and Yang. And for me 2022 was both fantastic and formidable.    Life is like that though. One day we’re on top of the world and the next we’re barely hanging on. From finances to health life can throw a party or a punch. One year you’re healthy, the next your body is failing. Yesterday you were sitting pretty, and today you’re on an operating table with a knife literally ...

 “When we deny our emotions, it owns us.” ~ Brene Brown    Grief.  Sadness.  Sorrow.  Suffering.  Heartache.  Anguish.  Pain.  Fear.    Every last one of these feelings and emotions turn up like some kind of a lemon, don't they? And by lemon I mean trainwreck. Implosion is probably more like it, right? Off the rails, through the roof, off key kind of hot mess. I mean we can throw humor at it all we want but a shipwreck is still a shipwreck. Kind of like a really bad adaptation of Inside Out.      Let’s be real. Most of us don’t like to talk about Grief or his not so content, very chummy bedfellows. I get it. It’s painful. Seriously, who in their right mind volunteers for pain? Grief can do a lot of things, good or bad if we’re honest. When we're willing to face it, grief can heal us. If not, it can tear us apart. The problem with ignoring our hurt and grief is the darkness it lets in. It eventually consumes...

“Accept that everyone will disappoint you at some point in life. Be OK with that. Know that you will disappoint everyone eventually. Be ready to forgive quickly, heal and let go” ~ Buky Ojelabi I haven’t written for a while. Oh I've meant to, wanted to but just couldn’t no matter how hard I tried. Then today something unexpected happened. As I was listening to my favorite Disney playlist, the lyrics from Toy Story’s “When She Loved Me’ moved me. I don’t know what it was or why it was in those moments I felt it, but I did. Emotion overwhelmed me. Unspoken, pent up thoughts stirred. Life breathed  back into my pen. Suddenly words were bubbled up and out of me. My thoughts were once again words on paper.  Let’s face it, since March life has been turned upside down, kicked sideways, turned backwards,  upwards, slightly right  side up and before being tossed upside down all over again. We’ve been shut in, isolated and removed from life as we’ve always known it. Masks are ...

“I would not wish for any other companion in the world but you. “~William Shakespeare Marriage like any other relationship takes work and lots and lots of it. Sometimes no matter how hard we try, or how many tears we cry over our marriages, they simply fall short and then apart. I know because mine did five years ago. Now I’m not gonna mince words or sugar coat things, life was off the rails in the wrong direction for a long time. Words were said, things were done, and hearts were broken. To tell the truth we didn’t much like each other either. The blame doesn’t matter. After 18 years of marriage, ours was failing. Did either one of us set out to harm the other? No, not at all. No one plans to intentionally hurt those they love, not unless they’re callous, heartless or cold-blooded that is. This is the thing about life though. It happens whether we like it or not. Prepared or caught off guard it can get sticky pretty quickly and end up downright muddled before we know it. An...

“We cannot selectively numb emotions. When we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.” ~ Brene Brown Let’s be honest, Christmas can be difficult. Gathering with family can be both rewarding and trying. Finding the perfect gift only to find it’s the wrong size or color can be downright frustrating. And if you’re struggling financially, gifts under the tree can feel elusive at best. Throw in different personalities, tastes and opinions and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.  Face it, the holiday season can be complicated if not exhausting and overstimulating.  For most folks it’s the most wonderful, magical time of the year but for others, it can be the toughest. Christmastime is a mixture of comfort and cheer, and heartbreak and hardship. And as much as we want it to be nothing but merry and bright, this time of year can turn gloomy and dark quickly. I suppose it all depends on which side the coin lands on. And without our consent, Sadnes...