Discovering HOPE

Although I am NOT the Queen of Self Confidence, there are a few things that I believe that I was born to do ~ be a mother, be a writer, and a contributor to the betterment of this world; and I can honestly say that I do believe that I am currently doing all 3 and I will continue on this path for as long as I draw breath. To be a mother was my hearts desire, there was no way that I was going to miss the opportunity to share my life with children, and all that entails. I believe that it is my calling to be a writer; to communicate and share ideas both for the purpose of entertaining and for being socially responsible; which lends itself as well to contributing to the betterment of this world; and I don't mean that arrogantly; I mean that EVERYONE should do their part from picking up garbage in the street, to showing compassion for man and animal kind etc. Now all 3 of these things require a certain amount of courage; and a certain amount of courage is about all I've got; but yet I am putting myself out there.

It is intimidating to say the least to actually share your thoughts and feelings and risk criticism and disapproval; but when I receive your thanks and your praise; it is the SWEETEST reward; so PLEASE keep those cards and letters coming; and by cards and letters I mean comments on "TBR" on Facebook and your emails. I am on a literal high from the outpouring of encouragement and support that I've received over my last post and it only fuels my fire to write, write, write; so I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

May's theme for the "Scrapbooking From The Inside Out" kit club was Hope. Now although the kit was delightful, I have currently made zero lay outs with it due to an extraordinary lack of time. Nonetheless I have come to realize that if you don't have HOPE ; you don't have anything and that ALL THINGS are possible if you have HOPE. I have also discovered that hope can be contagious and it is something that people love to be inspired to feel. Now, I don't necessarily write my posts to share constant sweetness and light; and I've told you before that Mary Sunshine I am NOT; but when I feel things, I feel them strongly and therefore I can be extremely positive or a caustic biotch and that's just how I roll. It seems that the people that I'm hearing from love to read about accentuating the positive and pursuing your dreams and if that makes you happy; then I am more than ready to take this journey with you.

When I was growing up, Paige was NOT a popular name; in fact I was teased mercilessly throughout elementary school and junior high. Of course I'm sure that it didn't help my cause when one day (in I can't remember what grade,) someone asked where my parents had gotten my name from and I replied "in a book." OK, well of course I meant a book of baby names, but it was TOO late; the damage was already done and would linger for many years to come. (Now of course I can't go into a play place or store without hearing 10 moms calling out "Paige, Paige;" Oh if only those Paige's knew how easy they had it... They're the new Stacey's and Brittany's.) Interestingly enough; my ENTIRE life, if someone called me by the wrong name; they ALWAYS called me "Hope." I always thought that it might have had something to do with the fact that both Paige and Hope were old English names; but now I'm starting to think that there may be something more to it. Maybe people were seeing something what I've been waiting to discover. I have mentioned before that writing a book at this point in time seems a bit too far out of my reach and part of this belief stemmed from the fact that I am my character. I write about ME and I believe that I need to find a way to develop a fictional character who has my traits; and thus today "Hope" has been born and I couldn't be more thrilled. I have often wondered if there was any rhyme or reason as to how authors decide what to name their characters but for me this is an obvious choice for I AM HOPE. And so this is another step in my journey and I feel so blessed that you are coming along this Bumpy Ride with me.

Till next time...

Queen of EVERYTHING