The women of my world

I think that for us women our girlfriends and female family members  have such a profound impact on our lives. I am sure men have the same sort of thing but I do believe us girls see things just a little differently.

 I have been truly blessed to have some of the most amazing women cross my path. I firmly believe that everyone that comes into your life comes with a specific reason, life is about the lessons we learn and the legacy we leave for future generations.

 As a very little girl I didn't really have a strong female role model, and it wasn't until I was a teenager that I found that role model and came to appreciate the bonds that women have with each other.

When I was 17 my Grandmother took me into her home when I had nowhere else to go. It was a very lonely and scary time for me and I did not make it easy and my Grandmother. But she never lost faith in me. She taught me that life is a series of experiences and you can either embrace and learn from each one or you can watch as they pass you by. She lived her life to the fullest everyday and I like to think I got my perseverance from her.
After to moving to Virginia I got to know my Aunt Marie Fay...("muffer" is the name I gave her when I was a little girl.) She didn't see me as a troubled teenager, she saw me as a sad and lonely young women searching for herself, just like she was. We have not always seen eye to eye but when I was trying so hard to be what I thought my Dad wanted me to be it was Muff that told me that no matter what my father would love me and that the true journey was to find who I was and who I wanted to be. We share a love for photography that has helped keep us connected.  She has an amazing eye for beauty  and is the reason I became a photographer to begin with.She has strength that I don't even think she knows she has and has given more encouragement and unwavering love than any other human being in my life.

 My sister and I have not always had the best of relationships, we fought a lot as kids do especially when they are close in age. Laura really showed me what being a sister really means. When Stephen went into the hospital, Laura was one of the first people I called and was the first to show up at the hospital. For 28 days she barely left my side. She was there for everything and did everything I needed her to do and then some. At my darkest moment she stood beside me and held my hand. I really would not have made it through that without her and In the last four years we have grown to count on each other. When things are going well she is the first person other than my husband that I wan to share it with and when things are going bad she is one of the first people I call for advice. She has taught me how to laugh at myself and the world, but more importantly she has given me the gift of unconditional love and support. She is more than my sister she one one of my best friends and I thank my higher power everyday for blessing me with such a wonderful person to call sister.

So many women have touched my life that I could never possible list them here, I have been truly blessed by wonderful women in my family.

 One of the greatest blessing in friendship is my best girl Michell. "Chels" and I have only been friends for 5 years, and in the course of a lifetime I guess that does not seem long, but I knew from the moment I met her we would have a lifelong friendship. I have had people throughout my life who have hurt me in ways that I don't care to recount. At the time I met Chels I had lost my faith in women on a whole and had decided that most women were back stabbers and caddy bitches. Chels taught me what true friendship looks like and what it means to truly be there for someone else. She is the most giving, loving woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and has never let me down, or walked away...even when the drama of my life was overwhelming, she hung in there and still does. Sadly both of our lives have become very busy and we don't get to see each other as often as we would like but not a week goes by that we don't talk at least once. She is my rock, she is the voice in my head that tells me to look at things from a different perspective, and she in the reality check I often need when things get to cloudy for me to see the entire picture. All four of these amazing women have made me the person I am today and are guiding me into the woman I wan t to be, some from close by and some from a distance but they are always there for me no matter what is going on in my world, and I love them all dearly.