Something to explore...hope you join. There is great strength in being vulnerable...and here, you are safe. Be safe, Be courageous. Be free from your fears...even for a little while...

Peace, Deborah

h3.
What would I do if I weren’t afraid?

I would take more time to contemplate.

I would travel around the world

alone

and write about it.

I would tell him that I love him.

I would sing karaoke...preferably “Peace of My Heart” by Janis Joplin.

I would sky dive.

I would bunji jump from a hot air balloon.

I would start my own business.

I would live on purpose.

I would write a book.

I would tell my

secrets.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Conversation with Snow  

    He was back...

    trying to seduce me into his bed.

    “Never again“, I told him, “never again...”

    “I see“, he replied. “And why is that?”

    There was so much I wanted to say. I wanted to scream at him but I knew he would not hear me no matter how loud my voice got. He could not hear me. He could not see me. His eyes were closed. His ears were deaf. But worst of all, his heart was frozen in ice.

    “You are like snow,” I answered

    “You touch me and then disappear. You leave me cold.”

_Deborah ~2009

Here in the United States, the news of Elizabeth Edwards' reoccurance of breast cancer most likely sent a shiver of discomfort through the bodies of breast cancer survivors, and for that matter, all cancer survivors. (For those of you who may not know, she is the wife of former Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards.) My thoughts: "There, but for the grace for God, go I." No one can possibly know what grief and sorrow went on behind the closed doors of that family. They stood strong and tall in the public eye, but their private moments are mostly inconceivable. In honor of their grief and their tremendous courage, I would like to post some information and a reminder to all men and women. (Yes, men can get breast cancer too!) Check your breasts. Check the breasts of the woman you love. Know them. Know them well. And don't ever think that something is nothing and ignore it. It could be a 'something' that will give you years on your life.  

Statistics
Although breast cancer awareness may be high, the statistics of women contracting this disease are not improving. Now is the time to mobilize the women in your community to take action and Stop Breast Cancer for Life.  

This year in the United States, a woman will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer every 2 minutes , and a woman will die from breast cancer every *13 minutes*.  

In* 2005, an estimated *212,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States, as well as nearly 58,000 noninvasive cases. More than 40,000 women will die of breast cancer.  

(These are pretty big numbers. do you know someone who has been affected by this disease? If you don't, you will someday!)

In* the United States, *1 out of 7 women will develop breast cancer in her life -- a risk that was 1 in 11 in 1975. (based on an 85-year lifespan)  

*Breast cancer *is the most common form of cancer in women in the United States (excluding skin cancer). Both its cause and the means for its cure remain undiscovered.  

Approximately 3 million women in the U.S. are living with breast cancer: 2 million who have been diagnosed and an estimated 1 million who do not yet know they have the disease.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S. and the leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide.  

Every woman is at risk for breast cancer. About 90% of women who develop breast cancer *do not have a family history of the disease*__.

Source: breastcancer.org and the National Breast Cancer Coalition

If you think I don’t notice...
your absence...
the silence that echo’s
on my page
and in my ear...
you are not listening
to the breeze of my wings
as I soar past your window
everyday
and every night
on the return to my nest.
I am here.
Just look out your window.
I hear your silence
and I see your absence...
and I miss you.  

Deborah _(C)2007

Confessions of an Adulteress

Somewhere between going
and gone,
I left a piece of me.

Somewhere between going
and gone
I sang between two keys.
Never quite this way
or that.
Never reaching high enough,
or sinking low enough.

I would vacillate
and it left me prostrate -
lying face down
somewhere between going
and gone.  

Somewhere between going
and gone
he seduced me.
Somewhere between going
and gone
I sang between two keys
never quite his key
or yours.
Never giving quite enough
but taking far too much.

So I would castrate
and underestimate
that your love for me was
somewhere between going
and gone.  

Deborah Haggerty©2007