Image vs. Text Writing Challenge

Detail a three to five step story or process—anything from a how-to, to turning points in your life so far, to a story with a beginning, middle, and end—and break up the parts with eye-catching, attention-grabbing images.

Weekly Writing Challenge: Image vs. Text

When I was thinking about what I wanted to do in regard to this challenge, I began thinking about how important it is to just be yourself. I’ve always thought of myself as a work-in-progress, and as I thought about what I could do with this post, especially since I need to add images along with the text, I began to think about inspirational quotes as well as a few pictures of myself. So let me start with the beginning:

This is me, my daddy, and my brother. My daddy died when I was 7 years old, and I was a daddy’s girl. For that first year after his death I shut down. I didn’t talk, other than to answer yes or no, and I became a loner. I became more of an avid reader. Then something miraculous happened. My mom met my step-dad. And 6-7 months later they were married. (They’re still together and they are about to have their 37 year anniversary.) Things changed, bit by bit for me. He didn’t try to take my daddy’s place  but he became a parent to us. He talked to us not at us, he listened to us, and most of all he genuinely cared about us and loved us. As the years passed I would tell people I had gotten lucky and I’d had a daddy and a dad, that my mom had been blessed, that we’d all been blessed.

Now my dad is big on not caring what others think, on being yourself, honesty, respect, and thinking for yourself, which helps fight peer pressure, as well as not being sucked into unhealthy relationships (though it still happened, but once I truly began to be myself, no holds barred, that changed as well). By the time I was a teenager, I was a dad’s girl. On the weekends, since my mom worked at night, my dad and I, sometimes my brother too but mostly he wanted to hang out with his friends, would go out to eat and then go hang out at my grandmother’s or my uncle & aunts. Sometimes we’d go bowling with my uncle & aunt and their kids. There were plenty of opportunities when I could have hung out with friends but most of the time they were partying and I was 15 and I suppose it would have been the NORMAL thing to do, but I’d rather hang out with my dad. So I did. Besides, I’ve always been the black sheep, been different–not normal.

Instead of going through the whole middle part, like getting married, having my two kids, getting divorced, etc I think I’ll just sum it up: I had really shitty relationships until I met my husband. By the time I met him, I’d lost all hope of ever having love. I knew love existed, don’t get me wrong, but I truly did not believe that LOVE was going to happen for me. Not the long haul, forever kind of love. So I became happy being alone. Besides, being with someone who makes you feel alone is the worst. I became happy with myself. Learned to love myself for myself. I found that I actually enjoyed my own company. I made changes, bit by bit, to become more of the person I wanted to be. I’d learned from my past mistakes and decided that the best way not to make them again, EVER, was to become a better me, a happier and more self-confident me.

Funny, how that works. Once you let the past go and begin to enjoy the present and look forward to the future, things really begin to change. At least for me it did. I got up, looked life and the past right in the face, and pretty much said, “Past is done and over with. Move on. Life is worth living and I’m going to make the most of it no matter what.” About 6 months later I saw Mr. Rockstar, we were at the same table with mutual friends, but we weren’t introduced. I took a picture of everyone at the table. His personality amazed me, plus I thought he was good looking and sexy. A few weeks later we saw each other again, and were finally introduced. As luck would have it, we had mutual friends but we’d just never met. We ended up hanging out and becoming best friends, and after a few months we’d both fallen for each other but those three words weren’t uttered until about 4-5 months into it. And then a few months later we were engaged. It just happened. Neither of us even wanted to date, Neither of us thought love was for us individually, but once we met and realized how much we enjoyed just being around each other it was Kizmet.

If you’d asked me about 3 years ago if I thought I’d ever get involved in another serious relationship I’d have said, “I doubt it!” If you’d have asked me if I’d ever get married again I’d have said “Hell no!” And now I’m married. I am more myself with him than I’ve ever been with anyone else. He loves me, all of me–the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. I don’t walk on eggshells, I don’t worry about being lied to or cheated on, and he’s my best friend. The more true to myself I was, and am, the better life is, and the better people I surround myself with, as well as those that I find myself becoming friends with.

My son, my daughter and grandson, my mom and dad, me and Mr. Rockstar!

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