In breath, in life, in change, in growth, in overcoming adversity.
It would sound simple an nieve to say beauty is found in everything, yet it is if looked at in the right light.
One can take death for example..normally not something you would consider beautiful. Yet if you look at how a forest fire enriches the earth and how the circle of life goes on then death can have a simple beauty to it.

What I am most grateful for I cannot put into words.
I. Am. Grateful.
that is all....

Beyond my children?
Well my daughter owns a hamster so ive seen Stormcloud. There are horses across the street from the kids school (Along with dogs, goats and geese) so i see them often. Further then that, there is a hawk that ownes the air above the school ground. No idea why but the school mascot is a hawk so its kinda cool.


Thinking through all this, I realise I do not see "animals" as such in their habitat. I really need to get out more. Even with the camping I do with scouts, I do not believe I spend enough time outside. Everything is done behind walls. No entirely a bad thing but in some cases very much so.

YES! and not for the reason u think.
There is a little matter of self-talk involved. That and I spent a lot of time clinically depressed. (PPD, Divorce etc) I refuse to feel so down all the time, so I choose not to. Simple as that.
Yes I do to encourage as well, I do to help my children, I do to help others but mainly and mostly I do it for myself. I use the fake it untill you make it attitude. LOL And I find it works. If I tell myself im happy, if I go out of my way to look for things and to see things in that manner.... I find I am.
Do I want to be happy? Yes, so I choose to be. I look on the bright side, and when things dont seem so bright I go out of my way to be so.
I dont let moods define me, I would rather define my mood myself. I choose how to feel, not let it be determined by outside factors.

Im expensive. :)
luxury:  the use and enjoyment of the best, anything contributing to such enjoyment, usually unnecessary to life and health.
So extravagant, excessive, plush, posh, over the top....Yes. But it is all a matter of taste. Vegas for instance, can just be ridiculous.  The glint of gold and diamonds that some find so appealing can look rather tacky.
I equate luxury with passionate emotion, with deep rich jewel tones, with soft and silky fabrics, with the rumble of a cats purr, the heartbeat of a love and the breath of a new baby. Luxury can be a quiet elevator ride in a frantic day at work. (Or even going to the potty by ones self....if your a mom you know what I mean.)
So yes in some instances i bask in luxury.... in my version of it. It is enjoyment of what you feel to be the best....and shouldn't one strive for such?
And do not misunderstand. There is luxury in simple things as well. Like a simple summer rain releasing the warm rich deep smell of a growing earth.
Luxury would be the difference between existing and Living. One can either do and be, or they can be and do their best.

Not much to tell the truth. Sometimes this is at my disadvantage. I get flack from my father all the time because I do not vote that often. (Im registered...and sometimes I do, but not all the time.) Dad gets on me for "Not defending myself". I really do not pay attention to the news... I do not follow politics or world events. My focus is closer to home. I do the best I can with what I have.... I have no desire to change policy at all.
My duty is to my home and my children. It is my job to instill values in them so that they can make their own choices later on. My job is to be supporting and nurturing not to be a leader. Im comfortable with that.

I grew up with a lack of religion but a respect for it. As a family we celebrated Christmas and Easter but it was more along the lines of Santa and the bunny. We sang christmas carols and knew of the story of Jesus but it was presented more as folklore then faith. Both of my parents were raised in Christian faith but because of changing beliefs gave up practicing. I was raised with the understanding that religion was what people used to explain what they could not understand.
There was a higher power and I was taught to "Do unto others..." the breakdown was in how to Explain the higher power. I dont know when I had a realization about anything different, religion was always an "other". It was what some people though but not our family. My parents had Wiccan friends and I went to Sunday school with the christian neighbors.
As a grown up I find that Im equally comfortable with all religions that I have come across, however I feel at home in none.

In myself? I pay attention. Empathy might be nothing more then a greater ability to read subtle non-verbal ques. The ability to place your self in ones shoes, to see things from a point of view that is not your own. The capacity to recognize a person as being an entire entity unto themselves and not as how they relate to you.
Im not sure as to how to create it in others. To be empathic we would need to be able to let go of the importance of ourselves and recognize importance in others.

Very simple...my MAIN job would be the same. I am a MOTHER. I would be the key keeper, I would "hold down the fort" while my spouse was away. I would be the answear to what everyone is doing, know where they are and why. I would be the central hub of the household, if not in name then certenly in management. I would be a director, a supporter, a teacher, an organizer. I would be the stability in my house, small or large.

This is what i do now, this I consider my most important rule. (However in todays standards the pay sucks. lol)

My Parents.
Sounds corny and yeah I went through the same..."I hate you..." phase. Overall if I had something to be proud of though it was them. My parents stayed married in a generation where not many do. Even today when I tell people they STILL are, the usual reaction is WTF? Really?
Yes really. And my dad has told me that my mom is still the most beautiful person on earth, 30 odd years later. :)
My parents were the weird ones. LOL They allowed me to swear.... given reason. "Its not words that hurt people, it is how others understand the words." They gave me respect for religion...from an outsiders point of view. (This is how other people believe. Respect it) I think If I had decided to be a Baptist or practice Wicca, they would have accepted either equally.
They trusted me. Again with in limits. I remember a prom my JR year, when my dad asked when I was to be home I told him 1. Not 1 am, 1 PM, the next afternoon. I got nothing more then "ok". I also remember when I broke that trust I ceased to exist socially for 6 months.
They accepted me. When I joined ROTC (coming from a NON-military family), when I took metal shop as a girl, when I brought a Gothic date to prom... I was always their daughter. Even I hated them as a teenager and disowned my mom for a time, I made her pull her hair out, but she was still my mom. She loved me in her own way and I knew that.
I remember the gift I got for my 13th birthday. My father wrote me a letter about becoming an adult. I still have it. I remember him teaching me to do my taxes the year I had a real job.
I remember talking to my mom the first time I hate a "real" boy friend. I remember asking her all the questions a girl has when she hits puberty...and my mom answering. Every one, embarrassing or not. (In writing if she had to. lol)
I remember my parents being on the outside edge of socially acceptable. My dad wears his hair long, my mom loves thrift store shopping, they both taught me a healthy disrespect for authority.("Question everything that feels wrong. Just because someone says you must ,does not mean it is right.") Yet I also remember wondering why people were not more like them. Did they not understand how lucky I was? Could they not see that what we lacked in money we made up many times more with love? I had friends that were scared of their parents. Some of them still are unbelievably. I never was. Ive had people tell me my parents were "cool" because of what I was allowed to do. Ive had people think my parents were strange because of how they acted or looked. All I remember is that it did not matter what anyone else thought of them, I felt lucky to have them both. I have told them often, but never enough, that I couldnt have picked a better set of parents. I know I have said that if I do half as well as they did parenting my own, I will feel accomplished.