Where I am From (Gratitude)
I am from this old house my grandfather built, from a beat-up wooden bench by the kitchen table someone once painted white, from the smell of Christmas cookies and Viennese Schnitzels, from my grandmother’s song and my mother’s sweet touch, from sunshine peeking through the big old walnut tree, from fallen yellow and red leaves, dancing on the sidewalk.
I am from a proud, resilient bunch, stubborn at times but full of humor and love, always making it through, somehow, always growing strong, from a marriage that came much too soon, bringing with it storm clouds swollen with a diseased mind, wild and dangerous; I am made of survival and healing and gratitude.
I am from a series of ends and beginnings, from a life that is nothing if not constant change, from leaving it all behind and starting over, in another world, with only hope and dreams up my sleeve; I am from so much loss that my mind sometimes reels, yet I have more than I have ever imagined.
Marie H. Anne, Mom, Twin Soul, Entrepreneur, Writer. Full of Gratitude. Boldly walking toward my dreams. I write memoirs, short stories, and auto-fiction about surviving violence and abuse and how amazing life has become despite and because of it.
