When another person makes you suffer, it is...

I believe in simplicity. I believe in feelings and family, friendship and fidelity, forgiveness and fortitude. I believe in motherhood and make believe. I believe in concocting and consuming colorful cocktails and fussing over and feasting on fabulous food. I believe in living out loud. I believe in laughing until your face hurts and loving until your heart breaks. I believe in behaving boldly and when warranted, badly, taking bubble baths and being barefoot. I believe in poetry, puppies and playing in the park. I believe in scheduled working on weekdays and sleeping in on Sundays. I believe in dancing in the rain and digging in the dirt. I believe in honest expression and the golden rule. I believe in nature and naps and that naïveté is sometimes necessary. I believe in goodness and gratitude and grace. I believe in unity and the power of the universe. I believe in being authentically awesome. I believe in being better today than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow. I believe in challenges and change and growing pains. I believe in the inherent worth of every creature on this planet. I believe in honoring the individual journeys and paths of people whether I understand them or not. I believe in letting people live their truth and trusting that it’s right for them. I believe in lifting up and letting go. I believe that death is just as sacred an experience as birth and that it is never, ever an end.

Mostly, I just believe that I’m never going to stop learning what it is I believe.