Dear Shirley:

About your first post today: I like your assertion about your mother: ” i am special and not at all like her.” I like it very much. You are moving farther away from criticizing of yourself (which is what she instilled in you by criticizing you) and you sure are choosing your ways in life, ways that are different, very different than hers.

Wonderful run and time with your special person: and you are indeed a good person and one separate and different from your mother-

Your second post: Bear and monkey have their charm but the wolf is what is most fitting in my mind with you, absolutely, a wolf. (for as long as the loyalty to family does not mean loyalty to those in your family that criticize or otherwise harm you or are not operating for your own well being!)

Your third post, the book, you wrote: “So the main moral of the story is to
Believe in yourself,
Have courage to face your fears,
…Keep trying to reach your goals even if you fall.
…Take risks even if you are afraid,
Push aside your fear and
Go for your dreams
…Conquer fear”

All the points you repeated in your beautiful poems and in post after post, what you believe in and what you stand by with courage and persistence through time. I esteem and respect you for these, very much so.

anita