GTOC Blog#48 Please DON'T wake me Up If I am Dreaming!!! Vxo

   One of my Professors noted to the class yesterday, a life philosophy "if things seem perfect, be careful then, they can only get worse!"

Superstitious fool that I am, I start getting nervous.  I have such an amazingly beautiful life, what if it is perfect?  OMG will everything now go to bat shit hell???

So I started forcing myself to think about everything that was NOT perfect in my life.  Sure the only thing I can think of is MONEY to support GTOC's efforts!!!    That means if I won the lottery, everything for sure would go to bat shit hell!!!!???  I started getting pretty scared and then I realized, my life might "feel" perfect but only because I choose to feel the beauty I have been gifted.

This morning after 10 years of not affording myself dental care, I had my teeth cleaned.  I have to admit I was pretty scared with news of my sister starting to have major dental worries.  Toothless smiles would just not be me!!!  Suspiciously nervous my perfectly beautiful life was about to take a bat shit corner turn to hell!!!  But then the Dentist told me I still had beautiful teeth!!  Strong, beautiful teeth, but only for two reasons.  One, I obviously absolutely LOVE brushing my teeth and Two, my entire life up till 10 years ago, my teeth were meticulously maintained!!  Thank you Mom & Dad!!!  Another stress filled worry off my mind, I can't stop running my teeth across my now polished teeth, however what about all my GTOC ladies that havn't been able to afford this same dental care??  Note to self, time to get on that band wagon a little tougher!!!

I continued my morning travels, first home to excitedly wake up Conor and tell him how excited I was to know I get to keep ALL my teeth!!!  then off to Home Depot to pick up the trim paint for the bathroom I am finally finishing!!!  There was a bounce in my step as I smiled ear to ear!  It was infectious!  Person after person stopped me to chat.  Not people I knew.  Strangers.  Very tough, grumpy looking strangers continued their travels with smiles on their faces and in their eyes!!  I am so very fortunate.

Last eve, I created a video for my children.  I wanted them to celebrate that WE ARE A SUCCESS STORY!!!  2014 is our 10 year anniversary together and WE are an amazing team of family love!!!   Today, I realize that it is my fortune to be able to say thank you, not only to my children for loving me unconditionally through all my growing up years aka the past 10 years, but also a huge thank you to all the people who made such a huge difference in our lives!  We are a success story!!!

So.....I wanted to share our family success story video and say thank you!!

To my Dad for hugging me and telling me "everything would be okay" and for teaching me to create beauty from nothing.

To my Mom for feeding us regularly but also for always believing in me.

To Fr. Michael Dwyer for teaching me to believe again.

To all my highschool mates who reminded me who I once was, and how life = fun.

To all the people who believe my heart filled efforts to support women who want to work hard to improve their lives.

To the person, my private mentor who taught me my worth and to remember how to dream big, and KNOW I will make it happen.

To all the women, who let me try to help them in anyway.

To all the people who tried to hurt me and my monsters, you reinforced my strength.

To all the people who have volunteered their time, efforts and donations to help us to help others, there are so many of you.

To all MY "V haters", thank you for teaching me what I could have become and didn't!!!!

To all the women before me who have fought the battles and paved the way.

To everyone who gave me patience and time to grow.

To all the men I dated who were simply "replayed monsters".

To all the men I dated who I will love forever!

To my Kimberly MacDonald, for teaching me the difference between monsters and men and what True Friendship really means!!

To the friends in my life, who have stood by me, who have respected my dedication to my children and the GTOC cause.

To my Professors and classmates who are subjected to my GTOC rants!

To all the positive people in my life....thank you!!!

To all the people who nominated me Remarkable Woman of Quinte 2012,  I may not have won, but I was so honored that you believed I should be in company of some of the most remarkable women I have ever met!!

To Gail Paquette, Al Murack & Bente Nielson, Bruce Bell, all fantastical photographers/journalist who honored myself and my family enabling us to share our story with the world.

I could simply keep going.  Like I said, I am so very fortunate!!  

So, the most exciting thing in my life is that soon I will be able to release GTOC's very first success story!!  I can't wait!!  I am ready to explode just holding in this excitement!!!!  Proof positive in our efforts for women!!!

And in closing, to everyone I so NEED to thank and to all those out there who NEED to hear a success story.  I included the video to my children in this blog and only changed it a little to include you.  Since our first moments in the creation of GTOC, I believed that our communities were searching for positive avenues to display their support of our hard working at risk women.  Know your support IS paying off.  As a community you have created a success story in myself and my monsters, and YOU have supported the success of GTOC's first DOUBLE honor graduate!!!!  

Thank You!!  Vxo