Brave Girl Symposium 2017

At the beginning of July, I had the opportunity to attend Brave Girls Symposium in Boise, Idaho. I went last year, and found so much wisdom, peace and joy that I just had to go back this year! It did not disappoint.

I arrived on Wednesday evening and almost immediately found members of my tribe, right as I entered the hotel! It was crazy amazing. Women who I have known on line for many years, coming up and all of us squealing in the lobby. In fact, I was so excited to be there that while I DID register, I did NOT remember to get my room key! I was really late in arriving, so I actually went to the restaurant with these ladies and ate, with my big ol’ pink suitcase sitting next to my seat. After dinner and a bit more visiting I realized I had no room key so I got that, then walking down the hall ran into another friend who was looking for ME! Ended up back in the restaurant just sitting and chatting for the longest time.

Thursday is a blur. The actual symposium did not start until Thursday evening. I have no idea what I did all day Thursday, but the day was gone in a flash! I spent a big part of it with my friend from last year, Myra, including a fabulous crab dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack with Myra and our new friends Shelley and Laura. It was so much fun to get to know these ladies a bit and learn more about each other, and it was divine to sit at our table overlooking the Boise river.

Melody’s opening talk was beyond crazy amazing, as always. I can’t say enough about this event. If you want to feel loved, supported, precious, included, or if you want to find people who are kind, generous, friendly, supportive, loving, and just plain fun, you might wanna head to a Brave Girls event.

Friday was spent mostly listening to amazing women tell their stories, and other women get up and give their testimony about similar experiences or wanting support. It is an eye opening experience to be in a room with over 600 women and realize you are not alone. Whatever you are going through in life, there is always someone else who has something to contribute to make you feel better and supported.

Saturday morning I did some volunteer work and did a bit more in the afternoon. It was so much fun! I totally enjoyed being in the art room and helping ladies make things, as well as making a couple of small things myself, for a couple of deserving friends. The evening brought the closing “ceremony” of sparklers on the Riverwalk. It’s so hard to see the event end, and so hard to leave the “love bubble” that you are in for the entire time. As I left the river walk to go back to my room to pack, I went past Melody and called “See you at lunch” which is the standard Brave Girl exit line, because it’s way too hard to say goodbye.

I’ve already signed up for next year, but need to wait a couple weeks more to reserve my room! Next year’s dates are August 15-18. If you are looking for inspiration, wisdom, peace, joy, or anything else, please join me!! You can sign up here: BraveGirl Symposium 2018 (Make sure you sign up soon because the price has been discounted!) See you there!

Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Yes, I'm breathing, alive, and back to my blog. It has been a wild time for the past 15 months or so. I hesitate to say things are calming down, so instead, I'll just say that I've adjusted to the changes, and I'm getting my act together and rejoining humanity!

For about 5 years, I suffered with really bad plantar fascia issues, and then, for the past 2.5,  achilles tendinitis. I was "sort" of healed by the time I went to the DDP Yoga retreat in October of 2015, but not all the way. Life went a bit crazy and I ended up making a conscious choice to stay off my mat for a while and give my achilles time to heal. The doctor told me it would take 6-9 months to fully recover. I'm pleased to say that everything finally feels like an almost normal person. I'm building back up on everything, and so far, so good. I am currently getting into a schedule of going to the gym 3 times a week and doing DDPYoga or restorative yoga a couple of days a week.

In January, I joined Weight Watchers, as well. I needed accountability. I am still gluten free and dairy free, but have put a WW wrapper on all of that with my tracking and limiting how much I eat. It's working. I've lost 12.2 lbs since I started on 1/3, which isn't a lot, but the scale is moving in the right direction and my jeans are too big. I'm good with all of that. If you look at my DDPYoga friendly recipe page, I'll be adding more recipes soon. I have a few new tricks that are yummy and friendly. There are some that might have a bit of gluten, because of ingredients, so be aware. For now, look at these amazing donuts I made a few weeks ago! They are 3 smartpoints each and stuffed with protein and goodness!


In other news!!! I'm excited to share that I am now a Soul Restoration Certified Instructor with Brave Girls Club. If you know me at all, you know that I love the Brave Girls Club organization and I really believe in the work that Melody Ross started. It felt so natural to sign up to become an instructor. I went to Boise for a week in March, and got all of my training. I've spent the last 6 weeks since organizing myself, getting my website started, business cards, and other planning. For right now, my plan is to offer one on one Soul Restoration classes. My time is pretty tight, so doing it this way will give my students the best attention. I'm really jazzed and have at least 3 students lined up. I just need to lock down final details and go for it!!!  If you are interested in learning more, look at the new page on my blog, Restorative Hearts Soul Restoration Workshops for more information. You can also, as always, reach out to me directly to ask! Here's a photo of me with my classmates in Boise toward the end of class. It was a whirlwind week!


I guess that's about it for today. Make it an awesome day and be kind to each other! I promise to be back soon!

How can I become a Brave Girl

I often am asked this question by people in my life, and the answer is actually not as straight forward as most would want it to be.

The path to becoming a Brave Girl, like anything else worth doing, is not straight. It’s full of twists and turns and I think that becoming brave means trusting those twists and turns and going with them instead of fighting them. It is understanding that everything that happens in our lives is a learning opportunity and a chance to authentically be ourselves and walk our path. Each of us has our own journey, and we are all becoming and working on ourselves.

Having said all of this, my list of suggestions for starting your journey on the Brave Girl path is:

1.   Go to www.bravegirlsclub.com and sign up! You will receive daily messages that are inspirational and can help you get through your days. Sometimes I save those messages and print them in a tiny format and put them on a corner of my desk as a reminder. Sometimes I print the art as a reminder. I try to do something to jog my memory about being Brave.
2. Take Brave Girl classes. When you go to the website, look for “Brave Girl U Online” at the very top of the screen. Join Brave Girl U and take the classes! Specifically, I’d suggest first taking Soul Restoration. This class is life changing. It’s fun, it’s easy, and most of all, if you take the time, do the work, and really “listen” to your soul, it will change you in ways you never dreamed possible. There are lots and lots of Brave Girl U classes, so be sure to stick around and take more, because it’s all good stuff!
3. On Facebook, “Like” Brave Girls Club. This will get you in touch with the Brave Girls community and help you meet other like minded people who might be sharing your journey. Participate and get to know other Brave Girls. 
4.  Perform random acts of kindness. Ok, this is personal, this is part of my journey and is something that resonates deeply with me. I find that, as I go through my day, I’m really busy and often really focused down. Each day, I try to lift my head and be present. If that means telling a coworker that they look wonderful in a certain color, or if that means giving a coworker a quarter for the vending machine, I never know, but I try to perform some simple random act of kindness each day. It’s become so much of a habit with me that I am sometimes not even aware that I do it anymore! Last week, in Idaho, I actually performed 4 or 5, which was what prompted me to pay attention and start noticing when I do it. I’m not looking for gratitude, I’m not looking for praise, I’m simply letting my heart speak, and following my path.
5. Give yourself permission. This is huge. Let your soul out. Let it speak and tell you what it wants. Sometimes, I think we get carried away with the “daily grind” and we miss out on things. We decide we are “too busy” or “too tired” or “not good enough” to do something and we let an opportunity pass by. Instead, how about giving yourself permission to fall down. Give yourself permission to try something that’s way out of your comfort zone and see what happens. I’m not saying go drive a super fast race car if you don’t have a driver’s license, but I AM saying that if someone invites you to a class on something you haven’t ever done but have been curious about, do it. Make time, have fun, and enjoy yourself. You’ll be amazed at the results in most cases!
6. Don’t expect an overnight shift. Becoming a Brave Girl isn’t really a thing. I think it’s an attitude, a shift inside of yourself, a new way of thinking for some. It’s not something you can look at and say “ok, I’ve done this and this and this and now I’m a Brave Girl. The first step is to choose to be Brave, and then as the journey opens and you start taking steps forward, you will learn to recognize and acknowledge your brave self. Just like anything worthwhile, it takes time. It takes time to shift your thinking and your responses to life, at least it did for me. There are still some things that I have said in the past that, if I could, I would go back and say differently. But, being brave means not looking backward, but instead looking forward and to what can be rather than what was.
7. For me, a part of being Brave comes from someplace entirely unrelated to Brave Girls Club. It comes from a program called DDPYoga. It was DDPYoga and Diamond Dallas Page, 3 time World Champion Wrestler who first told me to Own My Life. Those words were a real call to action for me, and got through to my soul in a way that meshes with all of my Brave Girls training and soul work. Being happy is a choice. Being healthy is a choice. Food is a choice. Everything in life is really a choice. It’s up to you what you make of everything that life hands you. If you are curious about DDPYoga, you can visit www.ddpyoga.com and learn more about it. I’d also strongly suggest watching Dallas’ very inspirational lecture video, “Living Life at 90%”.

This is a really hard blog post to write because, again, I don’t think it’s a straight path, and I think everyone’s journey is unique. You have to make a conscious effort to move forward instead of just sitting and waiting. Life is all around us and happening and some of it is beautiful and some isn’t.

If you've read all of this and don't have a clue what Brave Girls Club is, please take a look here: https://youtu.be/vfQqCWaHYdc

Anyhow, this is my truth. Maybe it will help someone. 

Have a great day!

Day 286, DDP Yoga and more.

In 2008, I met a woman who changed my life. I met her on Facebook, and it was completely silly. I was very much a scrapbooker then, and my friends were all friends with the Founder of Chatterbox, a very successful scrapbook company. A woman named Melody Ross. Early in 2008, I sent a friend request to Melody, thinking I was a peon  and she’d never accept it. She did! I had read Melody’s blog for several years and had SO much respect for this woman. But I didn’t know her, and back then, you didn’t really send friend requests to complete strangers, right? Well, later in the year, Melody had something happen in her life that was really big. She posted about it on Facebook, and I don’t know what compelled me, but I reached out to her in a private message and told her that it was all going to be okay and that I had her in my thoughts and prayers. Melody has been a friend since that day.

When she and Kathy Wilkins (her sister) started Brave Girls Club, I was one of the first people to sign up for the daily messages. I was SO excited. Beyond excited. When they started offering Brave Girls Camp, my heart cried to go. I knew I’d never have the money, but I yearned to go and be there and participate. I had some extremely scary and heavy stuff going on in my own life (maybe someday, not sharing now!), and I was very broken. I knew I needed to go to camp. In January 2010, Brave Girls Club offered Soul Restoration for the first time. It was an online version of Camp. I signed up immediately. It was the true start of the most amazing part of my journey. I loved the class. I learned SO much about myself, my past, what had made me who I am, and what I needed to do to heal and move forward. It was a long, difficult battle, but I learned that I’m worth it. I did the work, and I met a group of amazing women who are still part of my life.

In April of 2011, I got laid off from the worst job ever. I was handed a severance package that gave me enough money to go to Brave Girls Camp, and camp opened up just as I received the money. I signed up right away! Not only that, many of my friends from the online class also signed up! We went in May of 2012. McCall, Idaho. I cried on the plane as I flew into Idaho. I couldn’t believe I was there. It was so so crazy. My dear friend Mel met me at the gate. We flew into each other’s arms and it was the start of yet another chapter in my crazy journey. When we met the other girls, I met women who were sisters. At one point I met dear Melissa, who I love more than anything. SO much more, but not the key here. Camp was again, lifechanging. I came home, I went to work, I did my job. I daydreamed. I eventually changed jobs because I felt it was time and that I could do better. My first change was a job that I really loved, but the company went under. I found a new position that I thought I loved. My close friends told me to get out. They told me it was NOT a good job, NOT a good match, and I was crazy. I didn’t believe them. I thought it was so wonderful. One day, however, I realized how much I hated it. How no one appreciated me. No one respected me. I was in what Melody would call a “carnival job.” I was working for the head carney! I was broken hearted. But. I knew what to do.

So, in the middle of the job at the carnival, in June 2013, I started doing DDP Yoga. In case you don’t know, DDP Yoga was started by Diamond Dallas Page, 3 time WCW Wrestling Champion. I know,  I can’t believe I do it either. Keep reading. So, you can go to youtube and read about why he started it. I’m not going into that here. Fast forward 4 months. September 30^th. I’m at the DMV renewing my license and my phone rings. It was Diamond Dallas Page himself. We chatted for 20 minutes or so and he actually ended up calling me back because it was my turn. When I finished talking to him, I had that feeling I had with Melody. This person is someone who is going to influence my life. I knew it as surely as I knew my name. If I could get Melody Ross and DDP in a room together, I think t would change the world. Truly. They are cut from the same cloth in many ways, and I know they would "see" each other immediately.

Today is Day 286. I have put in 286 days of DDP Yoga. I have sweated my way through 9 sport bras, 6 pairs of yoga pants, 6 bandanas, and 2 yoga mats. I have eliminated 28 pounds and more than 37 inches. I am a new woman. I am strong, healthy, my posture is amazingly better, and I am HAPPY. I get up each day and I look in the mirror and make myself find one feature that I like about myself (that isn’t my face or hair!). Each day it’s getting a tiny bit easier. And I'm JUST starting!!!!

So why did I tell you about Melody? Why did I put Dallas and Melody together this way? Because I really think that had I not met Melody and gone to Brave Girls Camp and done the work, I wouldn’t have stuck with DDP Yoga.   I would have said “oh this is too hard.” “oh I can’t do this.” “I’m not good enough to do this.”

Like so many other things, something valuable would have been put aside and I’d have continued my slow path to killing myself with a sedentary life full of unhealthy choices. When I went to Idaho, I was barely able to do the hike. It was really hard. (It was a 2 block beautiful walk to a lake, it was FLAT!) Now I know I’d be fine and have fun and enjoy it! When I started DDP Yoga, my first workout, I don’t think there was a single move that I didn’t have to modify in some way. In fact, some moves, I just sat and watched. I burned 169 calories in that 20 minutes. Say what?

Today on Day 286 of owning my life, doing it anyway, being enough, I want to reach out to every person out there who is standing at the edge, looking over, afraid to leap. I want to shout to them, come on, do it, it will be worth it. You are enough. You are loved, you need to do this! Trust me. Just. Do. It.

I haven’t had the blazing success that many others have had with DDP Yoga, I haven’t lost my 100 pounds yet. But, I have received a gift. A lifelong gift, that I will treasure the way I treasure the gifts that Melody has given me. I have received self-confidence and self-belief. I KNOW I can do anything I set my mind to now, and I KNOW I am enough. Do I have bad days? Days where I think “no, I can’t.” Yes. But, on those days, I have my accountability partner, Mark Furniss, (you know he thought he was getting left out!) who says, “get up, do it. You’ll be happy you did. TRY. BREATHE.” And he’s usually right, even if I do call him #meanman all the time.

If you are new to DDP Yoga and struggling, or even not struggling, find someone to be your accountability partner. Really. Do it. Team DDP Yoga is a fabulous place for support, and there are many people there who will happily agree to be your accountability partner.

If you are a Brave Girl, and you are just starting your journey, or if you are struggling, trust me. It gets better and better and better. Do the work. It’s worth it. YOU are worth it.

Brave Girls Club, The Walk: Lesson One

Today I finished up the art portion of Lesson One. Without tormenting you with too much detail, this lesson sets the stage for the rest of the course. We did some work on what we want in our lives versus what we don't want in our lives. I think it was an important lesson, but I'm glad to have it "in the books" because it really had me thinking about a lot of different parts of my life. There are so many people that we interact with in life, isn't it interesting how many different "types" of relationships we all have?  Well, anyhow, here's my work from today. It isn't in the actual class journal yet, we're doing that in the next lesson, I think!

terrific tuesday-"The Walk" begins!

Today is a special day, unlike any other Tuesday. Today is the start of a class I have feel like I have waited years to take! 

Yes, that's right, it's a new Brave Girls Club class. It's called The Walk. Here's a link to the description and a short video at the Brave Girls Club website. Be sure to watch the video!

http://bravegirlsclub.com/walk

What I find with Melody's classes is that, whether you are an artist, a crafter, or just want to improve yourself, these classes provide the right level of tools to make you a success. Melody teaches some basic painting and collaging skills, using simple tools like Mod Podge, credit cards, and 3 for $1 craft paint. 

Anyone can use these tools, and make beautiful "art" that will support the class work. I remember the first time I signed up for a class, I thought "wow, what's with all the art? I'm either working on me or working on art" but you know what? When you create something, be it complicated or simple, you use a different part of your brain. This frees up the cognitive side of your brain to analyze the class content, while you are simply performing the task of gluing down phrases or painting a quick background. It always amazes me the depth of learning that I get from this simple process. I wish someone would use this in ordinary school environments, I'd love to know if it works! 

This particular class will also incorporate a lot of hand journaling. I don't do a lot of written journals, typically, (and when I do they are often in my art journal and covered over so no one can see them!) so this will be a real exercise for me. I'm actually looking forward to it! I think the last time I rigorously journaled was at Brave Girls Camp, so it will be good to get back into my words and explore what's in my heart right now. 

The Walk is a class about our journey in life. If it is anything like Melody Ross's other classes that I have taken, it will be spectacular. I am giddy for it to be time for the class links to be posted, which happens at 12 Mountain today!  

Just so you know, there is a LOT of information that gets shared in these classes, but it is released in bi-weekly installments so that you can take your time, digest the information and still have time to do the coursework thoroughly before the next lesson. This works really well for me. My typical approach is to watch videos on Tuesday (release day), then I kind of let them roll around in my head. If they are too tempting to wait, I might start doing something on Wednesday, but usually it's Thursday by the time I decide I'm ready to get painty and inky. I will start and stop and so on until I finally complete the lesson. Sometimes the lessons are really hard-- they make you look at things in your life that might not be the most pleasant, but as the class progresses, you will find that everything gets lighter and you will make huge life progress if you really focus and stick with the class. 

If you are interested in taking this class, you will be able to sign up for a month after the class starts. Please consider it and please join me. Oh and hey, if you are already taking the class, and find, after a lesson or two, that you are lagging, shoot me an email and I'll try to help you get on track! That's what we brave girls do-- we stick together and do difficult things! :) 

Make it a great day!

change is hard and inevitable

Right now, as I type this, I have a lot of change swirling around me. A lot of it is hard change.Hard change that I can't seem to wrap my head around most of the time, but change that has to happen.

I have a lot of good change, no, not good, great change that is starting to blossom. I don't know that it will immediately outweigh the hard change, but with a bit of perseverance, nurturing, love, and a whole lot of creativity, I am hopeful of a fabulously breathtaking outcome.

While I can't really talk much about all of this change, and don't really want to share details, I will say that I think it is important to embrace change. Change is a constant. It never stops. Sometimes, we stop, and that makes change seem even bigger. I think we have to learn to swirl with the changes and move with them and morph with them and learn anew.

So, speaking of change, I am making changes to my blog. As part of my overall growth plan, I will be displaying more of my art, sharing things I'm making, and many more topics. I was discussing this forward motion with a mentor at lunch. She asked "so what will you call your blog? My next 50 years seems to be not quite a business name. I didn't even pause. "Painted Lady Designs."  If you don't know, there is a very pretty butterfly called a Painted Lady. Here's a photo of one. Isn't she lovely?

As I emerge and bravely step forward into this next chapter, it seems perfect that a butterfly be the inspiration for my journey, don't you think? 

I will be changing the name of my blog over the next weeks. Not sure how to do that, without losing all of you, my readers, but we'll figure it out together.

While we're discussing change, my friend Melody Ross is teaching a new class, starting next week. You might want to check it out. It's called The Walk, here's where you can learn more. 

Thanks for joining me and have a wonderful day!

the post

If you don't know about Brave Girls Club (BGC), I encourage you to go to www.BraveGirlsClub.com and learn more about it. Briefly, BGC was started in 2009 by Melody Ross, a very talented artist and inspirational speaker. She and her sister, Kathy Wilkins had a dream of a safe place for women to meet, grow, and heal. 

It blossomed and grew, and now BGC has over 70,000 members, and provides camps several times a year in beautiful Idaho, as well as some amazing online classes. The goal of BGC is to help women improve themselves, often using small art projects to enrich the lessons and make them easier to really absorb. It seems that if you do something with your hands, at least for me, it allows my mind to go deeper.

As a "next step," BGC has created a haven for women to share their stories with other women. This place gives us all the opportunity to share and grow more by sharing our truths. When I was approached by BGC, I didn't even hesitate. I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. I have actually done a couple of stories. One about my weight loss success in progress, and the second about my tech writing talk with the girls in Africa last summer. It was amazing to sit down and write the stories out.

What I didn't expect was the reaction of other women when they read my words. I don't know why but I just never expected the feelings that have been raised in me and the depth of emotion at being able to provide a hint of light to another person and perhaps help someone else in their journey. This is a new to me thing. I have listened to others for so long share their journeys and share their stories, and I've kept quiet about my own journey and just continued on it, experiencing it, living it, breathing it, but keeping it quite private. I had no idea the riches that would come to my soul as a result of this sharing.

So, with that, I send you off to read The Post. Read, absorb, enjoy!

Brave Girls' Camp, May 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went to McCall, Idaho and spent 4 ½ days in a lodge with 30 women, making art, talking about life, and becoming brave. I went to Brave Girl’s Camp, a women’s art retreat, put on by Brave Girl’s Club, a company founded by Melody Ross and Kathy Wilkins. It was an astounding experience! Here’s how it went.

I flew from San Jose to Boise, with a layover in Salt Lake City, leaving home at 6 am and arriving in Boise around lunchtime. My fabulos friend Mel and her husband met me at the airport took me to Eagle Idaho where we were to meet our bus in the evening.

After a lovely lunch at a little café called JoeMomma’s (not kidding), we headed down the street to a reception at Fair Trade Exchange, a wonderful shop owned by Jeanette Priddy and her husband, who also own the town coffee house “Rembrandt’s” which is located in an old church. I had a photo of the coffee shop, but Blogger isn't liking it, sorry! (it keeps rotating it, so you'd have to turn your head to see!)

Wonderful people, with a wonderful mission to empower women all over the world. They offer handmade items from purses to jewelry to baskets, made by women in underdeveloped countries like Uganda, Tibet, and more. Their store is filled with so many beautiful items. It was a delight to visit, and the treats they brought over from their coffee shop were SO good too!

Soon it was time to head back to the Hilton Garden, where we were met by Brock Ross, Melody’s son, who gave us each a bag full of Brave Girl Club goodness. Amazing generosity and gifts. Sorry, can’t share exact stuff, you have to go to find out, but it’s oh, so, wonderful! Heck, we even had treats for the trip!The drive to McCall is about 2 hours. It goes by really quickly, because the scenery is amazing. The road follows the Payette River, which was running super fast and was just stunning.

When we left the river behind, we saw miles of farmhouses, barns, and just plain beautiful country. I was surprised at how good the lighting was.

Golden hour seemed to last more than an hour in Idaho! In talking to a really nice local on the plane ride home I learned that this is because Idaho is so close to the time zone line. If you go just a bit farther north from McCall, you end up in Pacific time!

As we drove up to the lodge, it was a mass of wonderful women, loving each other, hugging and greeting. Again, no details, you have to experience it. The lodge is beyond description. It is lovingly decorated so that no matter where you look, you see something interesting or meaningful. I am not including too many photos from here on, because I want YOU to experience Brave Girls' Camp and I want YOU to get the wonderful and amazing surprises that I got when I arrived!

Since it was dinner time, the tables were already set, candles were lit, and we were treated to the first of many spectacular meals. Kathy Wilkins and her team put together mouthwatering meal after meal. Apparently, they get together ahead of camp and prepare tons of food that they then freeze and bring to camp. Brilliance, because it means that Kathy is free to do other things at camp, like cooking OTHER amazing side dishes. (Oh, the stuffed bread on the first night, holy cow!)

After dinner, we all gathered in the living room to talk and get to know each other a bit more. Shortly after, we were assigned to our rooms, and our “room Moms” showed us where our rooms were. It was lovely, and we were all treated so gently and wonderfully. We were pretty much all exhausted after traveling all day, so bedtime came none too soon!

The next three days are a blur of significant chats, creating art, walks through the neighborhood and to the nearby lake, and just being. The love shared at Brave Girl’s Camp is beyond anything I have ever experienced. I have had some significant experiences at women’s Christian retreats in the past, but this, this is what it’s all about. Wow. Women mentoring other women. Openly and with great joy, sharing the ups and downs of life events. Really. It was amazing. I’m trying to keep detail out, because you really have to experience it to believe it. Trust me.

I will include a significant little mixed media painting that I did.

I spent a lot of time in the amazing art room, which was filled with any and everything you could conceive of  to create with. It was amazing! Here's me, working hard.

I really don't think I've ever smiled as much or so genuinely as I did at camp. I felt safe, loved, and oh so pampered.

Saturday came all too soon and we had to realign with the real world. Trust me, I was NOT ready to pack my bag back up and get back on the bus! I could have stayed for at least another week! The ride back from McCall was completely different from the ride TO camp. The bus was filled with joyful, chatting women, discussing everything from the weather, to family, to what it was going to be like outside the lovely cocoon created by Melody, Kathy, and the staff at Brave Girl’s Camp.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! I am told that each camp is different. I will tell you that I believe this. I believe that what happens in the lodge in McCall is nothing short of miraculous. It’s magical and, for each camper, it’s a different experience. You get what you need, and it happens in a kind, gentle way that leaves you knowing you are loved and worthy and enough. Could it get any better than that?

Coming home has been interesting. Fortunately, my husband is a gentle man who saw immediately that I was different and decided to nurture and treasure that difference. He’s made my return to reality as gentle as possible, while still helping me meet my obligations. I’ve come to understand just what a gem he is by how he’s handled me this week. I’m different, really, I am. I’m softer, less stressed, and to be honest, I’m thrilled with me. Each day I get yet another affirmation that I’m on the right track, living the live I was meant to live. I’m continuing to learn to dream big, and, like a sunflower, I’m keeping my face toward the sun, in the light, and continuing to grow. Life. Is. Good. Thank you Melody, Kathy, and all the staff at Brave Girl’s. If you want information on Brave Girl’s Club or Camp, visit www.bravegirlsclub.com. They’ll have the bus waiting to take you on the trip of a lifetime.