My Friends

Wow!~

I just hit a button and now I have a whole new writing format for my blog!  I will have to play with it to learn it...so bear with me!

So, here is what I want to say....before it's December, I wanted to get the last little bit of fall on my blog....and along with that is the result of a card that I started in 2008!!!!  This card required a LOT of cutting little details, designing and refiguring...I refused to send it out "after the matter" and so a few years have come and gone and it was still left undone in my little box .... (I have about 6 "boxes"....this year was my year to "finish"....I cleaned my studio, added new storage (my daughter's hand me down dresser!)....and I tackled what I think has been a huge factor in my inability to let my creative self out of my stumbling block of a cage....my cage being myself.  I can also blame things on "life" in general...I've had some pretty ugly cards dealt to me over the last 4 years....and I'm not one to take the bad hands very well...I'm pretty self-destructive in that category. My life has been filled with huge blessings...so, when it is MY turn to deal with sadness...I simply do not and did not know how to "deal"....

Over the summer, my pastor asked me...Trudi, how HAVE you overcome these last few years?  You appear to be a strong individual...I think you would be good for others who are faced with tragedy...just how do you cope?  (If she only knew...not well...I guess I appear to be strong?)  This was all told to me during a casual conversation at our local club, where my son in his neckbrace was enjoying the 100 degree weather splashing around like other boys his age....

I think it was about that time that I decided it was time to get through my obstacles...and face the music.  My response to her was somewhat "made up on the spot"...but as I drove home that day....I thought about it and thought about it....I either need to accept what fate is mine...or simply not....and by not accepting "fate"....is basically to deny living....I could continue to be down in "that valley" that I've been getting quite used to...or I can choose to reach the peak of the mountain....so climb climb climb I do....and will, I'm not ready to exist at the base of the mountain....

Here is what I know.....as I climb back to the top....I've had help....lots of help.....help from family...although my traged(ies) have been their tragedies too...we have bonded together....when my son was diagnosed with the tumor this summer....it was my sister who dried my tears in the waiting room...and my family was with me 24/7...at midnight as I sat with his surgeon...it was family who anxiously waited by the phone to hear my tears of joy...and it was FRIENDS....friends, who also reached out with encouragement...who listened when my niece was killed, who were with me every step of the way with my son's surgery and who recently sent prayers for my Mom, who is also a walking miracle today.....

As I ramble on and on and on....I can't say enough...how much I have appreciated so many....today and everyday is the "season of friendship"....I know it's just a card...but the sentiment is one that has huge meaning...

Thank you my friends, from the bottom of my heart!

Trudi