Happy Birthday DIVA STARBUCKS!

5 years old and still the best decision I ever made... :)

Thirteen Years....

It's hard to remember the girl I was then. Experiences like that can not help but alter a person. I used to feel safe and confident in my place in the universe. My role in day to day life made perfect sense. There's a line in a song that says "your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive". I think that describes the current me perfectly.
I've always known that my life is not like other people's. The funny thing though is that I never REALLY felt limited until that day. The day my Mother died taught me just how vulnerable I can be. I feel like I spend a lot of time now trying to build walls to protect myself.
I'm not hollow, or devoid of feelings. However, I am EXTREMELY cautious when revealing emotions to others. If you've seen me cry in the last decade, know that you are a treasured friend...
There are some things I've taken with me from the time before my life cracked. My love of all things Disney remains the same. My faith, though rattled, still holds me together. I may not have the sunshine bursting adoration of God that I had in my innocence, but He is still at the core of who I am. In a lot of ways I keep God, and my Mom in the same exact place. No matter where my life goes, or how many twists and turns I may make... They are both holding steady in the center of my heart.