Love is - an intense feeling of deep affection! My breath was slow in the moment. I wasn't breathing in air, yet my lungs were so full. My heart, it was beating so fast as if it were busting out of my chest. The blood in my veins was warm and flowing like a river. I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet, and my whole body felt as though it were floating. I was overwhelmed with a feeling, a feeling unlike any other feeling I had ever felt. I could feel it all, a feeling as though I was being transformed. My mind was open, I felt like everything surrounding me had stopped. It was just you and I, anything else was non-existent.

I remember this day very clearly. The day I met, you. You were like a breath of fresh air, a sip of water on a hot day, the sun that shines so bright in the sky. Your approach was so subtle, yet it was persistent. You respect me, mostly my responses. Our conversations were so intriguing, so clear. Love, do you remember? You asked me what the true definition of Love was. I couldn't help but laugh, I had never been asked that. "Love, an intense feeling of deep affection," "That's the meaning of love," was your response. I don't think I ever really knew what the meaning was. Then there was you. You showed me the definition of love. Before I never understood, just couldn't grasp this. You always think you know what love is, until someone opens you up, not to respond, but to listen and learn. That's what you gave me.

It brings me to the day that I felt it, true raw love! The day that has stayed with me and molded every thought of you and love. The day we had our first kiss was like an ordinary day. We went to eat right after work, which is where we met. We ate at the huddle house because it was all that was open so late at night. This was the day that changed me and the way I looked at love.

When it comes to the ground I can't feel it. I feel like I'm floating so high in the sky that i can touch the clouds. The affection of you and I is electric! You give me a purpose to live and without you, I am frozen. Frozen from your love, I'm imploding. Indulging in you leaves me floating. Lift me up I can't walk, my knees are weak. I feel like I can't breath, you revive me. Giving me all of your affection and it's exploding, all over me. You're like a drug I can't stop taking. Give me more, give me more, I want more.

Have you ever heard of the saying, I felt like I was floating? I felt like my whole body was floating like I was as light as a feather, my heart skipped a million and one beats and then I was revived by you! It was not a feeling I had ever felt before, a feeling I had always wanted but never got. Every decision I made after that day revolved around having that feeling again, just to see if it was real and not just imaginary. Still, I kept feeling it. It became like a drug that I just couldn't stop taking, an addiction and you were the key holder.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Say a kind word to someone who looks up to you, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less, we buy more but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, and more medicine, but less wellness. We drink, smoke, and spend too much. Laugh, love, and pray too seldom. 

We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've been to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.  

We've cleaned up the air but polluted the soul. We write more but learn less. We plan more but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, and to produce more copies, but we can't seem to communicate with one another.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits, and shallow relationships. Two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. Quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight or to just hit delete.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away. -Credits to, " Anonymous " Some words and phrases have been modified.

Back when I was a teen, I used to sit in my room and write songs. They were mainly love songs, I'm afraid to admit. I like slow songs, songs that can be sung to. Nothing dramatic or too over the top, just slow soothing songs. Rainy days were my favorite days when nothing was going on. Everyone was doing their own thing, and I was doing mine. I’ve lost touch with myself. I guess life happened, or maybe being a mother. 

Some days for me, are long. Long enough that my thoughts run together. Stress, anxiety, and agitation all kick in. Music has always been my escape, the place where I felt confident. The place where I have felt comfortable.

It rained all day today, and it’s days like this that take me back. Don’t get me wrong there is not a thing wrong with my life now. I have a wonderful husband and angelic daughter, but do you ever wonder where you would be now if only..? Well, I normally don’t dwell on past mistakes. I usually take them as life lessons and move on. Enjoy each day as if it were your last, as tomorrow is not promised.

Growing up I have always been artistic. From drawing, coloring, makeup, and decorating. My dad was retired from the Air Force, and he was always outside building something. I loved waking up to the sound of a hand saw, a shovel hitting dirt, or birds chirping. I had a flower bed that you had to walk down a set of hand-sculpted dirt steps. I had flowers, natural wood sculptures, and rock displays. It was nothing big, but it was big to me. I kept the weeds picked out and perfectly landscaped.

As I became a teenager, I ventured into interior decorating. My room stayed pristine. I also got into web design. My first website was called “ Beyond Night Fall;, which featured virtual dolls. It was a big thing when I was younger, for the girls to design their own dolls to display. I know the name was definitely not reflected as a doll site, but I also had other things posted. I started fan pages for my favorite movies and bands such as Halloween (movie) and Good Charlotte (band). I also had a section where I stored the lyrics for the songs I wrote.

When I was a pre-teen , I remember one of my childhood friends and I would draw pictures to coordinate with bible verses. We'd do this during the summer breaks from school, this would help us to describe what we read. Eventually, we stopped, as we got older we both started going our separate directions. She was my first friend when we moved to Mississippi, we met on my bus trip to school.

Poetry was also a passion of mine. Edgar Allen Poe was a favorite. Some of my favorite books which didn't include poetry were "Les Miserable", and "Whispers Through Time" just to name a few. 

Why me? Why must one bestow this burden? Every morning waking up, I sit. I sit and think of my day. I think of every possible scenario to every life event that could possibly be thrown my way. My mind won't stop racing and my heart beats a mile a minute. Before making any decision I think. I break down every situation and analyze it until there is nothing there, making it bigger than what it is. My chest tightens, my hands become sweaty, and my breaths become harder to take. I get this feeling of hopelessness. Do I matter, does anyone notice that I'm freaking out on the inside? Every surface of my body is tense, I can hear my heart beating in my head, and everything seems slow. I feel like running and hiding and not coming out.

Before walking across a room to throw away 1 piece of trash, my mind travels to many lengths. "Are they watching, what are they thinking when I get up, who is she?" That feeling comes back.  I feel as though I am overwhelmed. Why? Why me? This feeling is with every situation I am dealt, no matter the size small or large.

Passing a wreck on a highway, those are tough! "How do I avoid this, could this have been me if I came threw sooner, who was this?" Again I can feel that same feeling. This time it is harder, stronger, more intense. My chest feels like it's caving in, I can't breathe, my mind is racing faster than a roller coaster, now my whole body is sweaty, and I feel like my soul is leaving my body. This happens most of the time in the hardest of my life events. Not just a car accident, but aggressive interactions, loud sounds, or questions.

Before bed every night, I lay down. I lay in my bed, but my mind won't stop running. It's like it's in 5th gear and my breaks won't work. I analyze everything from my current day and I think of how these very events will impact my next day. How will I deal with them differently? Then hope kicks in, I'm at the top of my game. I can do anything, or so I feel like I can in the moment. Then real-life situations start, and I break down. "What do I do? How do I process this?" Why, why, why me? What is wrong with, me? Was I not graceful enough to deal with life in a graceful manner? Or, was I just damned to be trapped inside my own mind and body like a prisoner? I can't focus on conversations, because my mind is wondering trying to grab onto what to say. Then I'm short because my anxiety won't let me talk. I feel like I'm drowning, "But why?" is the question I'm always asked. It's something unexplainable.

Do you ever wonder how life would be if you had made different choices? I know I'm not one to dwell on the past or the decisions I've made. Life has a funny way of working out. I find my escape in music, art, love, laughter, prosperity.

There's nothing like good music, it soothes the soul and opens the mind. Gives you chills and changes your views on life. Why can't life be like a song? It guesses that the answer is easy because songs come from others' life experiences, that's why they are easy for others to relate to.

Art, there's so much life in one painting. Artists put their heart and soul into their paintings, their feelings, their laughter, and joy, even their sadness and anger.

Love, when you think of love you think of storybook endings and fairytales. Some can't relate, love is real and raw. There's nothing like loving and being loved, there is nothing perfect about love, but there is always beauty in it. Through the good and bad you find a way to still love.

Laughter, all the joy in your world. Everything that lights up your day and brings a halt to your negative energy. That ray of sunshine that captivates your very existence and makes others' days, there's nothing better than the sight of your smile and the sound of your laughter.

Prosperity is the very thing that keeps you going. Giving your life meaning and motivation to go on another day. You don't think of what has come to be, you just live in the now and you are abundant with life. There is beauty in today and tomorrow, and surely every day after that. Your life is what you make it to be, the same goes for your mood, your day, and your overall well-being. Find your escape in the things that genuinely are your happiness, and live life for you. Give and let give, love and let love, live and let live.

]Here's to many more years of you and I, and everyone else that is finding their own escape. 

COVID-19 a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China.

COVID-19

"Pandemic" - an outbreak of a pandemic disease

It's a pandemic. It's weird to say or even realize that we are facing this now. As an adult, it's my first ever. As a mother, I am scared and freaking out on the inside. I keep telling myself that everything will be okay. I calm myself and keep serenity as I don't want my daughter to see me in a panic. This is just a storm and it too shall pass.

Going into town seems normal until you go into the grocery store to see shelves bare. It almost seems like an apocalypse, without the zombies But are we really without the zombies? Everyone seems to have lost their minds. Savaging supplies, food, and health care items. Has it all really gotten that bad? Am I missing a piece of this puzzle? We can weather this storm!

Schools have closed, but jobs are still in full operation. Nursing homes have closed doors to visitors to reduce the spread through their walls. Contaminants are everywhere. Disinfectants are as if they were extinct. How do you contain something with no resources to do so? Some are protected with a stockpile of resources, while others are at risk due to shortage. Has our society become so full of greed that we cannot come together for the greater good? What really happened to "United we stand, divided we fall?"

Our nation's weakness has been exposed!

Disease Symptoms - Fever, cough, shortness of breath. Medical Attention Needed - if you experience difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Persistent pain or pressure in chest, new confusion or inability to arouse, or bluish lips or face.