1. The Birth of My Son, Sammuel WORTH DOING!
2. Starting College after the Death of Both My Parents & While Still Struggling to Maintain My Marriage with My Drug Addicted Husband & Raise My Son! WORTH DOING!
3. Divorcing My Husband & Starting Over on My Own! WORTH DOING!
4. Opening My Heart & Spirit to the Posibilities of Love – AGAIN & AGAIN… Despite the Pain & Disappointment of Prior Traumatic “Love” Relationships… WORTH DOING!
5. Stop Playing the Victim of the World (or of anything or anyone or any situation for that matter!) WORTH DOING!
6. Taking Back the Power Over My Own Life & My Own Choices – Owning It All… The “Good, the Bad, & the Ugly”! WORTH DOING!
7. Realizing the Err of My Ways & Being Willing to See Myself Honestly – Even When What I Saw Wasn’t Very Pretty! WORTH DOING!
8. Walking Away from “Religiousness” – Despite the Accusations, Abandonment, & Betrayal of the “Church” When I Did So – & Reclaiming My Personal Relationship with God – Finding True, Deep, Lasting Spirituality & Spiritual Truth! WORTH DOING!
9. Giving away everything I owned to follow my faith, vision, dreams, & passion to Afrika! WORTH DOING!
10. Not killing or harming in any way my ex-husband when I found out that he is the one who got my son started with cigarettes, drugs, & alcohol – & had been the one often supplying him (getting high with him) for years as I was diligently striving to guide m WORTH DOING!
11. Loving my son – accepting him Wholly & Unconditionally – regardless of behaviour or circumstances (& let me tell you something – there have certainly been some “circumstances” to challenge this)... And, seeing that evidence through him! WORTH DOING!
12. Taking myself off of welfare (AFDC – at the time), food stamps, subsidized housing, subsidized daycare, medical assistance – all government assistance – when I still qualified because I was “ready” to make it on my own – regardless of the cost… to be fr WORTH DOING!
13. Going from welfare to professional employment earning nearly $35,000 per year – with no college degree, & no major work history – nothing other than retail work earning a maximum of $6.00 per hour (but mostly at the rate of $3.40) – This when everyone sai WORTH DOING!
14. Seeing my son through to high school graduation – knowing my love, support, encouragement, prayers, fasting (lol), diligence, & foot in his rear have greatly contributed to him completing this goal! WORTH DOING!
15. Picking myself up off the floor after learning of my mother’s passing & doing what it took to go on & see that my son was cared for & eventually finding hope in “tomorrow” WORTH DOING!
16. Picking myself up off the floor after my “nervous breakdown” & finding the strength to go on one moment at a time WORTH DOING!
17. Going back to work after two serious car accidents despite the constant & deep level of pain WORTH DOING!
18. Walking away from each car accident with my life WORTH DOING!
19. “Choosing” to parent my son – realizing I was resentful at his father (when my son was still quite young) for not being there & being free to leave when he wanted to – Realizing I too had choices – I could “choose” to leave my son too! Not an ideal choice WORTH DOING!
20. Facing spinal surgery after the accidents… SURVIVING INTACT!!! WORTH DOING!
21. Facing Chronic Debilitating Pain Daily! WORTH DOING!
22. Addressing my own mental illness & all it’s dark ugly moments… WORTH DOING!
23. Just adding something to make the list incomplete!
24. Help Britt Get through final year of high school at MCTC – through Post Secondary option – to Graduate with her class! (she started Aug 2006)
25. Throw britt a graduation party! (Next spring summer)
26. Encourage my son to be the grandest version of the greatest vision of the truth of who & what he is & can be! WORTH DOING!
27. Continue to guide my adult son (soon to be 18) into adulthood – providing as many learning opportunities & examples as possible in his path for him to learn how to be a true man! WORTH DOING!
28. Provided the foundation of spirituality, education (academic, street-smarts, ethnic/cultural pride awareness) culture, global view, unconditional love, nurturing & acceptance for my son to have all the tools he needs to go out into the world & become the man he is meant to be! (feel like I am continually working on this – even though he has reached the age of 18. Yes, the foundation is there. Seems as though it just keeps being the parent’s role to reaffirm & strengthen that foundation with consistency)
