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

I want a courageous heart, a heart that does the right thing even when it's afraid. " ~ Lauren Gaskill I've always had a thing for heroes. I mean who doesn't right? As a little girl I was either out fighting along side my favorite heroes or inside reading about them. I loved them all from Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Robin Hood, Sinbad, Mr. Frodo and Samwise Gamgee and of course Hercules. Sometimes I'd pretend I needed saving. After all a little made up, make believe role play as a child is not so bad. But mostly I preferred to step into the role of champion, fighter and hero. I was taught as a child not to see myself in the same light the world did. Sure I was as a small, tiny girl with red hair, pale skin, blue eyes and freckles but I knew from reading Tolkien, "Even the smallest person can change the future." I was a book worm and a comic book nerd. I loved Disney, Barbie and Star Wars. I played with dolls, enjoyed tea p...

"See the line, where the sky meets the sea? It calls me and no one knows how far it goes." ~Moana I was born exactly 44 years ago today. I was born the daughter of a southern gentleman, an All American, death from above, 82nd Airborne soldier and a shy, quiet, creative soul, musicaly inclined and exceptionally beautiful vision I call my mom. I was born in the middle of the night placed in the waiting arms of my parents and given my name, Christina Marie. It's meaning was personal. It's interpretation meaning follower of Christ, a child wished for. Indeed I was born an only child, but I bloomed and my roots grew strong because of this. My parents, a couple of dreamers, a pair of survivors and a family of two for years became a family of three with my birth. The life I have inherited from my mom and dad is one of unconditional love, faith and genuine happiness. Some may look at my life, reaching back to my humble beginnings and see a sheltered and protected li...

"Extended family is a wondrous thing because their love and influence is a choice." ~Christina Olachia Our family has been blessed many times over by an extensive extended family. Through the years, as close as we were to our family, those bound to us by blood we were also separated by hundreds of miles more often than not. This is where we learned ,"home is wherever our bunch of crazies are." The wonderful thing about growing up in an environment like I did was even as an only child, I was never lonely. I was in fact surrounded by unbelievable and generous brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and second moms and dads. Today many of those same folks are still part of our lives, entwined and defined simply as family. In fact many of these extended family members are not only an extension but an intricate part of who we are, who I am today. It's been said, "Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; accept...

“You were my favorite hello and my hardest goodbye. ~anonymous Grief is a strange thing. It affects all of us very differently. Truthfully, we all process our losses in our own times and our own way. Some of us cry until we can’t breathe while others seem distant. Losing a pet is much the same. For many of us when our fur-babies cross over the Rainbow Bridge we experience the same grief as if losing a child.  Something I didn’t fully understand until recently. Our pets become part of us, members of our families.  We care for them, love them, nurture them and grieve for them in the same way we do our own children. So when the time comes to let them go, it’s excruciating. Our sweet little fur-baby Oscar left us unexpectedly for the Rainbow Bridge on October 3, 2016. Even as I try and type this now, I can barely hold back my tears. I honestly find myself still falling apart out of nowhere. Sometimes I even think I hear him prancing into the room, his little ears fla...