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

“Never say, “That won’t happen to me.” Life has a funny way of proving us wrong.” ~Dr. Anne Brown     Life really does have a funny, if not odd, ridiculous, and bizarre way of knocking us off our feet. Bringing us down to size really.  My dad calls them “wait -a -minute vines”. I like to call them knock’em, sock’em creepers. I mean they not only take you out, but they also creep up and lay you flat out too. Unless you’re just a sucker for punishment, wait a minute vines typically are an ugly surprise. And if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m not a big fan of low lining, swinging, sucker punching, wait - a- minute vines. Not in the least.    Life. Who knew, right?     Truthfully, life’s one big ole cracked mug of burnt black coffee. It’s a real hot mess sometimes, right? But let's not be too dramatic here. Life can also be pretty sweet too. Especially when we mix in a bit of sugar or a touch of honey to our cups. Now that doesn’t mean every cup is go...

“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents, and all the generations of your ancestors. All of them are ALIVE in this moment, Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Fate. It’s an ominous word if you really think about it. I mean destiny can seem out of our hands, much like who and where we come from do. From the moment we’re born our lives are set out on a path and not always the one we’d have chosen if we’d been asked, right? Whether our ancestors called it God’s will, divine decree, the Fates or Norns, determination, resolve and backbone still shape who we become.  Merida, of Disney’s Brave fame is a good example of fearing fate, and in many ways running from who she was born to be. She’d lost track of where she’d come from, neglected her family's struggles, overlooking and disregarding both her mother and father's sacrifices before her and in turn the effect her actions had on her own d...

“Love your family. Spend time, be kind and serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised and today is short.” ~ Unknown Family. We're born from and by them. How we came to be part of our families, isn't the question. One way or another we did. Whether through birth or adoption, our lives have been built upon their stories. Their history is our history and ultimately our story as well. For me, home is a place where unconditional love resides...a shelter and refuge full of memories, both and happy sad. I come from a very closely knit family. Not perfect in any way shape or form but close. I’m deeply connected to my roots and family tree. Today I stand in awe of both the lineage and legacy surrounding my life. My family has and will always be my greatest source of strength and joy. We’re a crazy bunch, that's for sure. But what family isn’t? I look at our life together and I’m reminded “we're just the right mix of chaos and love.” What I...

"I can't. You can't rewrite the past." ~ Jay Asher How many times do things go wrong in life? Our plans get caught up in mayhem or simply fall off course and  into a stinkin', rotten, nasty, unpleasant, gigantic pot hole in the middle of the road. Sadly a lot of the time we can't avoid the road hazards. They just come with the territory. Goodness gracious I know I've found myself more than once taking the detour. Life just has this way of altering , faltering and revising any and all of our perfectly laid out plans. For whatever reason, life seems to have a mind of it's own right? The same can be said of our past. Our lives are all different, each one of us has a distinct, separate story to tell and like those unaccounted for detours, we tend to stay stuck in the same chapter, and often on the same page over and over again. We get caught in a warped time loop, becoming prisoners of our own poor, sad, story-telling. The reality is while you ...

"Even though there are days I wish I could change some things that happened in the past, there's a reason the rear view mirror is so small and the windshield is so big, where you're headed is much more important than what you've left behind." ~ D.I. Quotes Three years ago this month my life changed. Actually my life went up in smoke. Uncontrollable flames reached epic heights and the smoke of what was left of my life up to that point billowed. I'm not talking some small campfire either, not even a bonfire. No, I'm talking about a raging, out of control wildfire, burning and destroying everything in it's path. This sweeping fire consumed everything, all of me, who I was and who I thought I should be. Three years later, the fire has been extinguished. Truth, for a time there I was fighting hot spots spontaneously re-igniting, area's of my life left unattended. I was lost, hurt, betrayed and abandoned. Night had fallen, the sky was black, I...

"Today's MOMENTS are tomorrow's MEMORIES." ~ Anonymous Do you ever wish you could go back and re-live a moment? Maybe you've pulled out a few old pictures from your childhood or your child's childhood and thought to yourself, "I just want 5 minutes minutes." Christmas time especially evokes those feelings for me. I'd love to go back when the boys were little, and scope them up in to my arms again, kiss their little cheeks and delight in their Christmas morning joy. Honestly how many times do we reflect on Christmas' past longing for those 5 extra minutes? How many times do we "smell a certain, familiar scent and suddenly remember a small part of our childhood?" Often is my bet. Christmas time in our home has always been a warm, homespun, family affair. As a little girl Christmas was magical. Our tree was always glimmering with gold garland, red balls, our German ornaments and our family star high a top. Gifts were beautifully ...

I have this cousin. Her name is Julie. She’s our family historian, the keeper of our genealogy on my mom's mother's  side. Now, that's a mouthful isn't it? Try saying that 3 times fast. Julie and I are opposite in many ways but we come from the same line of strong, independent women. Together you could say we’re a couple of nuts off the same family tree.  She’s my partner in crime, my co-conspirator, and collaborator in all things mischievous and roughish. We’re cousins by blood, sisters by heart and absolutely friends by choice. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our grandmothers, the Bergman sisters, Marie, (she’s my middle name’s namesake) and Betty, were sisters. So in reality, we’re distant cousins. In fact we grew up as far apart as possible; she in Pennsylvania and myself in Texas.  Truthfully we never knew who the other was until 2012. When we met just four short years ago; we made up for lost time. Looking back, I don’t see how we haven’t known each oth...

In many ways; I’ve spent the first part of my early 40’s missing. If I'm being totally honest, to a large degree, I was also in hiding. Where did I disappear to? Well, that’s an interesting question if I do say so myself. I guess you could say I was stumbling around in a maze, through parts of myself I didn’t want the world to see or know about, as well as areas of my life I had kept hidden away from myself. In many aspects life suddenly opened up, but not in the ways I had hoped. I was handed a ticket, boarding an unexpected, unplanned flight whose path was anything but ordinary. I was suddenly thrust into the unknown regions of disaster and many times disbelief. Who I thought I was and whom I've actually become are complete polar opposites. So to answer the question of where I’ve been and even what I’ve been doing, is simple; I’ve spent most of the last two years growing. I found and opened doors inside myself I honestly hadn't realize existed. Mostly, I’ve fumbled thr...

How often do we get caught up in the running of our day to day lives? We run here, there trying to the best of our abilities to be everywhere. We take care of the kids, our husbands ( and wives) and anyone else we feel needs us that we simply forget to take care of our homes? Let me tell you it happens more often than any us would like to admit. Before we know it we are worn out, worn thin and unable to extend ourselves any further than our beds. So as I have pondered this theory this week I spent time cleaning, sweeping, dusting, moving things around and re- organizing my house. Talk about dirt, clutter and piles of unorganized junk! I moved from one room to the next, one day at a time literally. For months I had been hiding away deep inside my own skin, away from the outside world and my cleaning supplies! I had not realized just how out of whack my home was getting or for that matter how out of balance my soul was becoming. Isn't it the way it goes though? Life takes a bite out...