On Life and Words

When I was a little girl, I believed in fairy tales and happily ever after. I suppose, most of the time, that little girls are taught from a young age to believe in their knight in shining armor on a white horse coming to sweep them off their feet and then live happily ever after. After all, isn't that the stereotypical fairy tale?  The problem lies in the fact that fairy tales, at least the Disney version, don't really exist.  So, women grow to become disillusioned, while still searching for their happily ever after.... often in the form of their knight in shining armor. But what happens when they don't show up? For years, I believed in the fairy tale ending and kept thinking that if I were just with the right man, it would become easy, that I'd find my happily ever after... and my knight would come rescue me.  After 3 failed marriages and a couple of dating relationships gone badly, I'm now a single mom with a lot of stress and a lot of happiness in my life. Don...

Are we true to ourselves, our hopes, our dreams? Do we live within our proclaimed values and morals? Do we feel like we can be our true selves or do we feel the need to wear a mask or to be someone we are not? A life lived in disguise, lived based on what others think we should do, is a life wasted. I wish someone had told me that years ago, instead of learning it the hard way. For too many years, I lived within the ideals of what I believed was best, simply because it was what everyone expected of me. I attempted to hide my true self and attempted to avoid confrontation or doing anything to "rock the boat" in attempts to make others happy. I found myself hiding my true thoughts, feelings, beliefs and ideas. I wore a mask that I never took off, even with those who were supposed to be closest to me. That's absolutely no way to live. I found that in trying to please others, I pleased no one and I made myself absolutely miserable. It's like I kept waiting for pe...

As a parent, there is often a dilemma of how much to tell your kids about things or what to tell them or not tell them. The hardest thing a parent will ever do is to tell their child the truth about a difficult subject. I am a major supporter of being honest with your children. There is absolutely no excuse to EVER lie to your child, even if you believe you might be protecting them. The thing is, children are very sensitive and they seem to have bull-shit meter that picks up on EVERYTHING. If you lie to your children, they will know. They will also feel that because you lied to them, they cannot trust you. If you lie to your children, you are teaching them that it is okay to be dishonest, and that a lie is better than the truth to attempt to preserve someone's feelings. All of that being said, when you are telling your child about something, a situation, etc... it is important to tell them in such a way that makes it easier for them to understand, make sure you leave an open d...