Living a lifetime in 3 1/2 months.😳

A little over 3 and 1/2 months ago?!

Wow. I can’t believe it has been such a small amount of time that the stupid tornado ripped my every day living to shreds.

I feel as though I have lived a full lifetime in less than four months. Yikes. Fresh hell. 😳

This morning, I found myself ready to live again. REALLY live. Up til now, I have been scraping by on ‘half to’. I am ready to move on because I ‘want to’.

I’m doing something I haven’t done since the tornado: Sitting in my car, yakking to you, via blog, thinking of mom, enjoying my fully paid off car.πŸ₯°πŸ˜πŸ’ƒπŸ’

Life is short. I am doing my best to enjoy it. For the first time in more than four decades I am doing more than chasing a check.

I am enjoying my day for no other purpose than to encourage you and enjoy my day.

How great is that?!

Enjoy your life, beloveds. You get just one. In case no one has told you today: I love you. So does He.

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Time to love, beloveds. Time to live. Time to embrace and enjoy your life. Where you are. Right now. Go now. You got thangs to do.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Stop listening to the hate(rs).

Haters are going to hate, beloveds.

It’s what they do: Hate.

They hate themselves. They hate their circumstances. Instead of changing THEIR lives, they hate on me. They hate on you.

That’s a they problem. I don’t have time for hater-aid. I have thangs to do. So do you.

Haters want to keep you on THIER string. You are okay so long as you march to THEIR drumbeat. Ha! I don’t think so.

Thank your haters. They are a sign you are on the right track/path. Thank them for giving you extra motivation to cram your success down their hating throat.🀣πŸ₯°

Keep on being YOU. Your you is especially annoying to haters. Good! Keep on getting in ‘good trouble’.

Tell hate to kick rocks. You got too much love to give. Tell hate(rs) how sorry you are to keep winning as much as you are. Not!

Life is short. Why are you spending so much of your precious time wondering/worrying about what your haters are going to say/do?

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Pray for folk who are full of hate and keep it moving. Your light WILL drive out the darkness.πŸ₯°πŸ₯°

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Heart check.

I’m just doing a heart check.

How are you holding up? Are you still holding on? Are you still keeping on? Are you still trying?

I can’t believe fall is here. The summer went so fast. The year is going fast. I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the year. I’ve spent most of the year enduring the year. I’m ready to enjoy it. How about you?

I have almost forgotten what it was like just to enjoy the day. I woke up and have been enjoying my day. All day. I am not worrying about bills. I have not worried about what comes next. I’m just enjoying my now. Right now.

Enjoy you now. Enjoy your now. Now is all we have.

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: How is your heart?

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

There is too much in you.

Beloveds, there is too much in you to quit.

There is too much faith in you.

There is too much life in you.

There is too much hope in you.

Don’t let the hard discourage you.

Get up and get back in the fight.

You got this.

God has you.

The Universe fights with/for you as you stand again.

cheering you on,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: You got this, beloveds. Go on, now. You are tired only because you have been fighting for so long it seems as if long will stay with you always. It won’t. Victory is fixing to slide right next to you.

Get ready, beloveds! Rush out in the streets with your buckets. It is fixin’ to rain!!!

Ah, Life. We ready. Give us our bounties! Asking for many friends…

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

The best is yet to come.

The best is coming for us, beloveds.

It is!

Ah, the best is yet to come!

Be encouraged.

I don’t know who I am talking to. I just know someone needs to hear these words today.

The best is yet to come.

Lift up your head. Your help IS on the way.

reminding you for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Be encouraged, beloveds. The best IS yet to come. Maintenance has been pounding away, painting away and taking away all the debris the tornado left behind. In its place are new things. Yes, things look different. Yes, I am different. Still, the heart of me remains. As do you.

It’s okay to grieve what has been lost. Get excited, though. New things SHALL take their place. Awesome things. Amazing things. Get ready, beloveds. The best IS yet to come. In case no one has told you today: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Why not?

Why not me?

Why not now?

fixing to find out,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Why NOT me? Why NOT now? I’m demanding The Universe answer me! What say You, Universe?! Gimme my bounty! Ah, God. Release my dreams for me. Asking for a friend(me).

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Make room for it.

Joy.

Make room for it.

Hope.

Make room for it.

Dreams.

Make room for it.

Love.

Make room for it.

Make room for the things that are going to ADD to your life. Brisbane enough time focusing on the negative. We got things to do. Let’s start doing those things with joy. Life is much too short.

My birthday is coming soon. I will be 56. 55 spent all year laughing at me. I have lost a lot this year. I’d like to think I have also gained a lot of wisdom anyway.

I’m learning how to make room. It’s about time. I’m learning how to make room for me and the things that make me happy. I’m learning how to bleed folk alone as they learn how to make room for themselves. I’m just learning.

How about you?

Asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Make room. Be sure to add plenty of joy in there. Embrace your day. Enjoy all of it. Even the stubborn parts. Even the boring parts. Especially those. I wish I had more boring…

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Repeat after me: I believe in me.

Repeat after me:

I believe in me.

I believe in my gifts.

I believe that I can.

I believe that I will.

I believe that I am loved.

I believe that I am NOT alone.

I believe I am growing no matter what it looks or feels like.

I believe in love.

I believe I will be loved.

I believe in the goodness of God/The Universe.

I believe in hope.

I believe my life is making an impact on the world.

I believe…(fill in the blank).

It takes more than belief, beloveds. Action MUST be added to that which we believe.

Get out there and LIVE!

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Okay, so you are supposed to be out there walking out your belief(s). Believe me, we can all do much more than we give ourselves credit for. As for me and mine, I am ready to believe, say and do. What say you?

In case no one has told you today: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Keep trying.

The more I try, the less I see come to fruition. I don’t know why. I’m not doing anything differently. I’m not trying any less hard. I’m still giving my all. my all just seems to be giving me less.

I tell myself to keep trying. I have been dragging fear and doubt everywhere with me lately. I don’t know why they won’t leave me alone. Maybe they think I will give up if they stick around. Maybe hopeless things I will become hopeless due to the lack of outcomes I see.

Thankfully, I am learning not to rely on the outcomes. I would have given up a long time ago that had been a case. I would have stopped writing two or three years ago. Hell, I probably would have stopped writing last week.

The universe is silent right now. God seems to have packed up His toys and walked away. I don’t know where He is hiding. I don’t know where to find me. Still, I promised myself I would continue going on. I promised myself I would continue to be about being about it.

55 keeps laughing at me. she tells me to sit down somewhere. I am just too damned to want to make some dreams come true. on days like today, I want to believe her. Still, something inside of me keeps saying that there’s more to this life I have been living. Something inside, just won’t let me quit. Something inside, just won’t let me stop reaching out to a world who could give two damns about me.

Keep trying, beloveds. Today, just may be your day. Today, just maybe my day. We will never know unless we seize this time and this day.

Be encouraged. Keep moving forward. The way is hard. It was never meant to be easy. Besides, we eat hard for breakfast!

We have nothing to lose. We have a whole world to gain.

Stop focusing on the outcome. Discouragement lives there. Keep trying then enjoy the rest of your day. Speaking of which, I hear cup of coffee calling. Who is up for a cup?

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: You can do it. You will do it. Keep believing in yourself. There’s much more to you than you know. You got this. Sometimes, we just need someone to tell us we can do it. You can. In case no one has told you today, I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Mom, I’m done living YOUR fear(s).

Hey mom.

It’s me. Your daughter. Cassandra. I NEED to talk to you, mom. I hope you can/will understand what I have been needing to say. For years. For a lifetime, I imagine.

I love you, mom. You are one of my heroes. You taught me how to love folk. You taught me how to keep on keeping on whether I have felt like it or not.

You taught me how to cook. You taught me about sports. You taught me how to clean chittlings…ew. You coulda kept THAT lesson, mom.

Anywho, mom, God has been encouraging me to be honest with you. He told me to tell you the truth. Finally. He said it would NOT hurt your feelings. He said you would understand. I hope you do. Here goes nothing…

Dear mom,

I have to let you go. Not you, but I have GOT to let go of YOUR fear(s). I have been carrying them all my life. I have been viewing MY goals through YOUR eyes of fear. I’m not blaming you, mom. You grew up in a world of not much. You wanted us to have plenty.

You grew up in a world where being a woman of color was seen as a danger and a detriment. You wanted us to be safe.

You grew up in a world that told women to shut up, cook, have lots of babies and absolutely NO dreams. You wanted us to be conventional.

You grew up in a world where being loud could get you killed. You wanted us to stay alive.

You grew up in a world where lack was ALL you have ever known money and health wise. You wanted us to make ‘just enough’ so we could scrape by.

You grew up in a time where menfolk just weren’t that great to womenfolk. You wanted us to need nothing and no one so we wouldn’t/didn’t NEED a man.

Ah, mom, you did your best. The best you could do, given the knowledge, the circumstances, and the folk that made your life not so safe, not so loved, not so supported, not so understood.

Inadvertently, mom, you passed your fear(s) down to me. I learned to step, carefully. Truth be told, mom, I learned to not step out at all!…*sigh*.

I don’t blame you, mom. Can I tell you a secret? By your example, I learned more than you could ever know. I learned how to love, no matter what. I learned to try, no matter how. I learned to give, no matter who. All from watching you.

I’m ready now, mom. Ready to move forward. Ready to see what I can do. Ready to see how far my dreams can/will take me. Maybe, nowhere. Ah, mom, but they MAY take me straight up into the heavens. So you can see how very far I have come. How far I have yet to go.

Ah, mom. I think it’s time your fear(s) be buried, don’tcha think? I think there is a whole world just waiting for ME. Whowouldathunkit? I’m ready to find out.

I love you, mom. I’m just ready to love all the other parts of you, not just the fear(s) that spoke so loudly for you.

Let’s go, mom. We got thangs to do.

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I’m having a last cup of coffee with the fear(s) that have dogged me for 55 years. They have shadowed EVERY decision. No more. I did not realize this until fighting with fear for days and days. Weeks really. I could NOT understand why I couldn’t shake these feelings of dread.

Dread showed up from nowhere. It spilled onto my joy. It tainted my happy. It rained on my content. I tried to pretend I felt no dread. Dread only grew louder. Fear and doubt came tagging along. They pounded me and pounded me.

I fussed at God’s Silence. He was simply waiting for me to ask myself what I was dreading, what I was afraid of. Ah. Aha!

Facing my fear, I realized it wasn’t MY fear that has had me soooooooooooooooooooooo afraid. It was mom’s. Her worry about bills. Her terror of not being about to keep the lights on. Her dread about not being about to provide for us.

Mom did all she could. With what she had. Financially, we never had much. We had a ton of laughter. We laughed over dumb things. We were given tons of fortitude, want to and have to. Those things have helped me all my life. I hang onto them. With dear life.

Yea, beloveds, it’s time. Time to move on. Free from the fear(s) of others. Free from the expectations of others we can never meet. Free from the sins that so easily beset us.

Let’s go, beloveds. We got thangs to do. Perhaps, you need to write your own letter. Perhaps, the letter needs to be written to YOU. Be encouraged. Let’ get to living. Unapologetically. Unafraid. Love someone. Starting with you. Asking for Your Friend.

In case no one has told you today: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!