For 35+ years, I had three tiny warts on my neck. They weren’t beautiful. They weren’t ugly. They were simply part of me. They were there when I was a little girl growing up without emotional stability. Without a mother steady enough to guide me through fear, confusion, or self-doubt. I learned early to sit with my own emotions. To survive quietly. To build strength without being shown how. No one walked me gently into womanhood. I figured it out. They were there when I marri

Today during one of our regular bonding sessions , my 9-year old said something that stayed with me long after the walk ended. First, a little context about these bonding sessions. Every now and then we go for a walk or a short drive with no agenda — just conversation. These are not lectures. Not “parent advice” sessions. They’re simply spaces where we talk about life. We talk about things we did well, things we could have done better, our wins, losses, mistakes, fears, frust

From black ink to vibrant color—this is the story of how I renewed my vow to love myself. The Beginning: A Promise in Ink In 2023, I made one of the most important promises of my life. Not to someone else, not to the world, but to myself. I etched it onto my skin, on my hand where I would always see it: the words “I love me”  with a heart and butterfly. A promise made in 2023—simple, bold, in black ink. It wasn’t just art. It was a vow. The butterfly symbolized transformation