once upon a time...

... life got complicated.

There was a time, when dad would take care of all those little sad moments, family problems and basically your average pains. Kiss my boo-boo, make it better, "daddy, fix it!".

Do you know about "Franken-Barbie"? ahhh... Well, when we were kids, lived in France, our dad traveled to the US a lot, for business. Needless to say, he brought us back some really cool toys, that our friends didn't get. So, our house was a popular playground. One of these toys was a really neat Barbie. She had the latest fashion designs, cool hair, etc... So, we all wanted to play with her. So much that it broke! Yep, right in the middle of the neck, it just broke, naked with no fancy outfit on.... So, being a kid, I naturally ran to dad, handing over the broken pieces, saying "dad, look.... Barbie's sick, can you help fix it??????". Dad being a fixer, looked at me, and said "oh sure, be right back". He goes into the garage, where all them fancy tools are at.... We hear some banging, sawing, drilling, phew.... all sorts of good stuff in there... Get this, Dad comes back in, all smiles.... hands me the "new" Barbie and says "look, all better!". Uhhhh.... WHAT IS THAT!? Barbie had this huge-ass bolt and screw in the middle of her neck! How in the hell am I going to play with her, and you know, dress her up? Well, we grew up learning to appreciate what we had, so I thanked my dad (even though I was more than super disappointed) and went back upstairs.... After morning our loss, we decided to call her FrankenBarbie..... Yep, I think Mom still has it somewhere in the attic... Still naked! LOL

Now that we are adults, there is no do-overs and reality can hit pretty hard. I have a strong family, I am a strong person and I have an amazing circle of close friends, who I know I can count on. That's priceless.

I guess this post is all about appreciating what I have, counting my blessings and re-evaluating what I may have taken for granted for years now.... I don't practice much, but I am Catholic and do believe in Him. I know He works in mysterious ways, but man... sometimes, it's a hard pill to swallow! ... So, I pray... I pray for strength, for happiness, for recovery, for everything to be ok where it really counts.

Everything is going to be ok.