brand new day

My kids have discovered the timeless game of Truth or Dare.  Remember that one?  You pick a challenge and you have to do it; tell the truth or do a dare. Truth.  Who do you like?  Dare. I dare you to ask him out. And if you really wanted to increase the stakes, you could always use the Triple Dog Dare. My daughter was playing with a friend the other day and she asked me, “What’s a good Truth I can ask?”  I threw out a few suggestions, each one met with, “I already know that.”  Apparently, she knows her friend pretty well.  It got me thinking.  What a great way to get to know someone.  Asking for the honest truth.  No pretenses, no facades.  Just open, naked honesty.  You know what?  Let’s play a round.  I choose Truth.    Truth.  What’s your biggest fear?   If you know me at all, you know that birds are at the top of my phobia list.  An irrational yet deep-seated fear of the winged creatures with beady eyes and more importantly, sharp beaks - the perfect size for pecking out your e

I read an article that stated, “Love at first sight can only be seen in hindsight.”  We often hear couples’ stories of meeting and they look at each other with silly grins on their faces and say, “It was love at first sight.”  Hindsight.  Months or years later, after the foundation has been laid, they look back on that day and they can see the moment of the beginning.  It happened at the very first glance, but they needed a little distance to see it.  I was telling a new friend about my past. I was feeling vulnerable sharing those moments of brokenness. Whenever I would recall that time of my life all I would see is weakness, an inability to find the courage to escape a horrible situation. I remember so desperately trying to reach for a strength and fortitude that I knew had existed in my soul at one point; more than existed - it had been a raging fire. But in that darkness I couldn’t even see a spark of that strength and I mourned its absence.  And even now, years later after havi

I was recently talking with a friend and he said, “I’ve learned that you can fix anything.”  I think we were talking about something related to fixing things in the house.  And he’s right.  Between YouTube and Google, you can find DIY instructions for anything.  Now the execution may be a different story, but you can at least find the know-how.   A few days later, my daughter and I were reflecting on all the changes that have happened in our lives over the past eight years.  Some ups, but a lot of downs; and some of them really deep downs.  Two years ago, I had to declare a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  The debt was crushing and it was keeping me tied to a relationship that was slowly stripping away my soul.  I calculated my monthly expenses and figured out how much I would need to save to make it for eight months, hoping that would give me enough time to get a handle on my finances and figure out a more affordable living situation.  I got so close, so close I could taste it, smell it, e