Red Threads

It's been awhile since I posted. I've had some time to think about "read threads" and I realized they've been running through my life for as long as I can remember. It's funny how you don't realize it at the time but as you age and grow a little wiser you realize that you don't have to love the people connected by blood and you are free to love those you meet regardless of how they enter your life. From my earliest memories I recall my stepfather who I met when I was only 5. He completely loved me as his own and treated me no different than his own two children (who happened to be adopted). While he left our lives too quickly three short years later, the impact he had on my life was positive and I never forgot his love, kindness and fatherly ways. Not being from a particularly large family, I learned you build your own and surround yourself with people who you love and those who love you the most. Eileen and Shannon both who lost their lives way too early in 2002 and 2004 respectively are surely looking down and nodding their heads in approval of my impending adopting. Shannon was like a brother to me and would have been an awesome father. Eileen was a long time friend who was a good mother but always fell short of meeting her family's approval. Sadly her son will never know how much she loved him and wanted him. Her untimely death was felt by many and her laughter, kookyness and sense of humor lives on in those who knew her best. For the record, guns really do kill..they killed her at 34. I could go on and on about the people in my life who have left their mark but the truth is they know who they are because I tell them as often as I can remember. They are people who have supported me as my friends, my bosses (she knows who she is), my mom and even the occassional person who has tried to tear my down. When mother's day was approaching I wanted something to mark this journey but the truth is I'm not a mother yet. So I bought this bracelet; one for me, one for my mom and we will wear them until referral time. It's a reminder of the committment I've made and a reminder of what is my life; the past, the present and the future.