If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger. That was something my grandmother used to say. That and follow your bliss. They were both her life mantras, and her insistence (and persistence) in passing them on to me worked. They both are super-glued to my psyche. For life. 42 years in this world and everyday I wake up and try to find my bliss so that I can shadow it, tail it, and eventually (hopefully) catch-up to it. Make it my own.

“Fate,
up against your will.
Through the thick and thin.
He will wait until,
you give yourself to him.”

“The Killing Moon” by Echo And The Bunnymen
from the album, Songs To Learn And Sing (1985)
Song Of The Day – September 5, 2011

And the killing me or make me stronger one? I like to joke that I have super-powers, that I’m some kind of post-modern Wonder Woman. But that’s really because of the mantra. It’s my way of surviving. It’s my bullets for my non-existent gun. I try not to let anything crush me enough to make me weak and helpless. Instead, I try to breathe and keep my head up, channel Wonder Woman, and my grandmother, and wake up stronger.

Growing up too fast and too soon leaves indelible marks. Scars that stay just beneath the surface where no one can see them. Where only a trained eye, or your own, can make them out. But all of it, well, it did make me stronger.

Stronger, but often older than my years. To be honest, I sometimes wish I was a little weaker, a little younger, and a little more naive.