10 Things that I am Grateful for Today

There are many things to be grateful for but right now, right here I have challenged myself to think of 10 things that I am grateful for and to do it in 10 minutes.

1. That God loves me.
2. That both of my parents are still alive.
3. That I have two wonderful boys.
4. That I have a job that pays.
5. That I have freedom of worship.
6. That I have friends.
7. That I can speak to God at anytime and in any place.
8. That I have my health.
9. That it is summer.
10. That I will be on holiday next week.

Life is GREAT!!

That was too easy. It took only 3 minutes.

A Wasted Day

I try and I try, I really try,
I plan, I scheme, I even fight,
I do, I hope for I am right,
But yet, I cannot.

I try again I do not quit,
I go and throw quite a fit,
I get angry, I do not sit,
But yet, I cannot.

Now I am mad so very mad,
I have failed and I am sad,
Why oh why a day gone bad,
But yet, I cannot.

Now I stop to think, to ponder,
A wasted day in which I flounder,
Forgetting to pray, trust and wait,
For without God, I cannot.
© Priscilla Carvalho, May 2009.

Four months after cutting my hair

It has been four months since I cut my hair. How am I doing?

JUST GREAT!!! I do not believe it or could I imagine that I could feel so free.

So that you may understand my babbling I will have to make a confession. I straightened my hair. There, I said it. My mother started with the processing of my hair when I was 11 years old and I spent my entire adult life thereafter doing just that. I could not image a life without processed hair. Every 6-7 weeks I HAD TO GO to the hairdresser to get it straightened otherwise it became unmanageable, it started to break and it got fussy etc. Before I went to have it straightened, I had to wash it at least a week in advance, so I had to keep track of the weeks. With a full time job and being a single mother of two boys who lives alone, getting to the hairdresser was a struggle. I would say all the time that I was a slave to my hair. Oh did I mention that I could not wash it myself? At the point of cutting my hair I was just at my wits end. Now four months and 3 more haircuts later I finally feel like the weight has lifted. It is dawning on me what a burden it was to be straightening my hair.

At first I was excited by the brand new look. This turned to sadness as I became accustomed to the look and I felt that there could be no change. Now I am on the top of the world. I can wash it myself and it still looks good, I can get it combed in less than 30 seconds and get away without combing it on weekends. I do not have to consider the wind, rain or even the sea. For the first time since I was a child I was able to really relax in the sea. I lay floated and did as it pleased me while at the beach.

The main benefit to the hair cut it that I feel that I am not living a lie anymore. No more working so hard to give an image that was not really who I was. No more deception of what my hair is really like. I am now FREE!