those girls on Oprah's special - i can't get their faces out of my mind.

so filled with hope.

and light.

and determination to move up and out of their current circumstances

into

possibility.

made my gratitude list so easy to make.

today i am grateful for~

*a warm, safe home

*being born in america where education is free for all children

*tears

*joyful faces

*eyes sparkling with knowledge and a certainty that good things are coming in the midst of great hardship and despair

*the resilience of the human spirit

*hope

*hot showers

*food in the refrigerator

*clean water to drink

*my blessed life

growing, stretching, continuing down this path of mine.

i look back on where i was last year at this time.

the hiding and lying and dark twisted place in my head where i ran away from life. sitting in front of those machines, feeding money and my soul inside - keeping up a facade on the outside. the good girl, the quiet girl, never wanting to upset the precarious balance of the world around me.

closing the door and hiding in my room as a child, pretending i didn't hear the chaos outside. wanting to belong somewhere. wearing glasses, too smart, too chubby, too uncoordinated.

i look at where i am now.

living by the sea (then i always want to beat myself up for now being in an apartment, for causing us to lose our house - the shame, guilt at times i think will bury me underneath), teaching parents and children how to play together and sing together and BE together - such a blessing.

my life is such a blessing.

the past is over.

i can only move forward.

no only about it, really - that should be an exclamation~

I MOVE FORWARD - TRIUMPHANTLY!!!

~in gratitude~

today i am grateful for . . .

~little boys named max

~upswept hair

~nervous energy

~Caesar's Way by Caesar Milan

~riley's face

~the sun shining on the ocean

what are you grateful for today??