Hello 2019!!
Polar Bear Plunge at 35 degrees!!
Taking the Plunge
January 2, 2019
Facing Fear, Family, Personal Growth Adventure, facing fear, personal growth 13 Comments
The Starfish Story
August 20, 2015
Personal Growth facing fear, Forgiveness, getting help, gratitude, hope 27 Comments
The Starfish Story came to mind recently when I let someone know how much of a difference they’ve made in my life. I have been the starfish, now it is my turn to be the boy.
Roller Coaster Ride
July 9, 2015
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma Action, depression, facing fear, finding freedom, Forgiving My Mother, healing, Letting Go, motherhood, Struggle to Forgive 38 Comments
It’s been a roller coaster ride the last 6 months during my blogging sabbatical. Continued growth, awareness, & forgiveness; betrayal; and a surprise!
My decision to back away from blogging and other optional activities was born of necessity. Some important relationships were requiring intensive attention, and I needed to focus on figuring out what my role was in each relationship. It’s never pretty looking in the mirror, but always worth it in the end.
It’s easy to think relationships are strong when times are good.
But when things go awry, you find out what the relationship is really made of.
Finding My Voice
January 24, 2015
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery abuse survivor, emotional strength, facing fear, finding freedom, healing, personal growth, recovery, Transformation, truth 22 Comments
***On a blog sabbatical until July 2015***
Keeping secrets, not telling. The truth was strangled in my throat for so many years.
Once I became strong enough to tell my truth to one, then another, I found increasing healing and empowerment in my words. Getting the awfulness out in the open helped make the darkness flee.
Over time, telling my truth to safe people strengthened me to be able to speak my truth to anyone -even if they didn’t believe me.
Starting this blog nearly 3 years ago has been such an incredibly important part of me speaking truth in a whole new way. Recently, I’ve discovered More
Birthdays of My Dad and My Father
December 20, 2014
Facing Fear, Family, My Journey with God, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma childhood trauma, Christmas Memories, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, facing fear, Family, forgiving dad, Forgiving My Father, healing, Letting Go, Mental Health, recovery, Spiritual Journey, Transformation 13 Comments
Dad’s birthday is today; gone now nearly 5 years, he would be turning 92.
He hated Christmas. Apparently his birthday was forgotten every year in the midst of Christmas preparations when he was growing up. The pain of being forgotten never seemed to leave him. He would not allow us to put up a tree until his birthday had passed, and even then did so grudgingly.
I know now Dad’s Christmas experience is only a tiny window into his life story. More
PCT -Bears, Canada & Back to Reality
October 5, 2014
Facing Fear, Family, Personal Growth Bucket List, Facing Adversity, facing fear, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, personal growth, Transformation 37 Comments
My daughter’s epic summer journey on the PCT ended on September 9th. She hiked from the Columbia River, at the Bridge of the Gods, to Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia. It was done in sections, two alone, one with her husband, and one with her dad.
At the Columbia River, Oregon/Washington Border
Canada Border 507 miles
I dropped her and her Dad off at Stevens Pass on August 26th.
They saw 9 bears between there and the next time I resupplied them at Rainy Pass. More
Throwing Stones
September 20, 2014
Facing Fear, Family, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma abuse survivor, Adrian Peterson, childhood trauma, Domestic Violence, Facing Adversity, facing fear, Forgiveness, getting help, Greg Hardy, Jon Dwyer, motherhood, NFL, Ray Rice, trauma, truth 36 Comments
It would be easy to make a poster-child of Adrian Peterson.
A powerful man hitting a defenseless child? What a lowlife, coward, and disgrace. Let’s all throw stones at him.
But wait.
What if…
What if Adrian Peterson was simply parenting the way he’d been parented.
How can we be expected to do the right thing if we’ve never been taught what the right thing is?
I am in no way condoning or excusing this behavior, nor that of any version of domestic violence.
But I believe there’s more to the story. Much more.
More
PCT Hike Update
August 27, 2014
Family, Personal Growth Bucket List, Facing Adversity, facing fear, gratitude, motherhood, Pacific Crest Trail, personal growth, Transformation 40 Comments
My daughter’s hike on the Pacific Crest Trail continues…and I am more amazed at her tenacity every day. I’m so grateful she has a GPS device that allows her to send messages in addition to ‘pinging’ her location when she has service. She has been faithful to let us know where she is each day, and we’ve seen her about once a week when she crosses into civilization and we resupply her.
She’s grubby and hungry when she walks off the trail, and we’re sure glad to see her!
After a 26 mile day near Mt. Rainier
She craves fresh fruit the most!
Grubby Tootsies!
She hit mile 325 when she made it to Steven’s Pass over the weekend. We picked her up there and brought her home for a 36 hour rest and resupply. She’s done about 275 miles alone, meeting some interesting characters along the way. Her husband did a stretch between Mt. Rainier and Snoqualmie Pass with her. They experienced rain, thunder, lightening, hail, and a new forest fire! More
“Mrs. M Died Today”
August 22, 2014
Facing Fear, Family, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma childhood trauma, facing fear, healing, Mental Health, motherhood, parenting, Suicidal, trauma 15 Comments
Robin Williams’ suicide continues to touch raw wounds.
I have the honor of sharing a deeply touching story from “Mary” today. She very eloquently describes what it’s like to be left behind the wake of a suicide.
“Mrs. M died today,” read my diary.
That’s all that’s written. Looking back, I just don’t think there was any more to say. How in the world could I explain it to my diary when at age 10, my best friend’s mom died and left us all bereft, swirling in a pool of uncertainty?
Now more than 30 years later, More
The Lure of Suicide
August 16, 2014
Facing Fear, Family, My Journey with God, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma abuse survivor, childhood trauma, depression, facing fear, finding freedom, healing, Mental Health, Suicidal, truth 35 Comments
The world lost a great man when Robin Williams took his own life this week. A genius, really. But more importantly, we lost a man in pain. Someone who decided he and his family were better off with him dead.
It is human nature to want to fill in the blanks. Why did he do it?
Does it really matter? Do we need a reason so we feel superior that we didn’t do the terrible deed?
The bottom line is: Pain is Pain.
Desperate pain results in desperate ideas and choices.
When I was suicidal, More
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