This Day 26 Years Ago...

...was the day that I was born.

Yes, today is my 26th birthday. For me, my birthday is a celebration of a life that I feel I take for granted sometimes. It's the one day each year that I can truly reflect upon as being a real Thanksgiving time. Without going much into it, I will say that I am very blessed to be alive today.

As my little celebration, I wanted to share a little piece of me in photographs.

Baby me with my Daddy. One of my most treasured photos (in a beautifully engraved silver frame).

Baby me with my Momma. My mom looks so beautiful here.

My second birthday. Look at my baby smile!

My dad used to wear baseball caps all the time. When I was little,

I wanted to be just like him. I loved my hats too.

A fashionista before my own time - at 5 or 6 wearing a quilted blazer, a black

belt cinched around my mid-section, and a cute dress underneath.

Me with my Grandpa (Great Grandpa) Lee. He passed a couple of years ago on my birthday,

and this one of the fondest memories with him.

Now for bed. I have an hour and 32 minutes left of my birthday, and I intend to only sleep for the remainder as I am so very tired from a long day.

Have a fantastic evening, my loves!

Creating Pockets of Adventures

Blessed. This is the perfect word to describe my life. While not everything goes in the direction I hope, nor does it ever happen in the ways I plan, it's mine and I have joy. More often than not, I face obstacles and sometimes rather painful experiences that I find to be overwhelming at times. All the same, I conquer. I have faith in a few things: a higher power, that higher power within me, and in myself. Faith always carries me through and has brought me to where I am.
I think my life to be somewhat average in many ways. I am not poor, but I am not wealthy. I can usually obtain the things I want if I plan for them and budget in most instances. However, I wasn't always affluent enough to afford small luxuries, such as my beloved Starbucks habit or my car. These two things would have exceeded my budget by far if I were 23-years-old again.
Though, one thing that I am wealthy with is ambition. I've always been wealthy with ambition. If I want something, I find a way to m…

I Didn't Know What to Say

This world is full of both wonderful and heartbreaking circumstances that wear us down daily. As a nation, we are mourning another tragedy where violence has torn apart communities and families - and for what purpose? We just don't know.
I didn't write on this yesterday because I didn't know what to say. I've read that it's the deadliest mass shooting in American history. I don't know what's more sad to me: that this deplorable act is something that I feel numb towards given the increasing numbers of shootings and tragedies we are seeing nationally, or the act itself: where some random person unbeknownst to even his own family made a decision that forever altered the lives of millions of people.
The biggest encouragement and consolation I can try to provide is to continue to shine the light into the darkest corners of the world. Whether you emit joy and love, peace or kindness, these are a few ways to impact the world in a positive way that anybody can gi…

Compassion

Months ago, I filmed a video about compassion and empathy. When I downloaded it to my computer, I didn't have the time or the drive to edit and upload it... until today. I re-watched the full 11:37 video and realized that my message was very clear and that it applies just as much to today as it did when I originally filmed it in November.
Compassion. It's something that many people lack - not on purpose, but out of convenience. Out of carelessness. Without a thought. People aren't bad because of it, rather unaware and lacking mindfulness of who is around them and how they may be feeling.
I wanted to share this video as a reminder for people to view other people as humans - as people just like themselves. To have empathy and compassion because you just do not know what another person is going through.

Lovingly yours,
Em

Bellezza di Vita

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