*New Year, New Challenges*

Another year of life! Fantastic, thanks God!! What will this year bring? I don't know that anymore than I knew ahead of time last year that I'd be moving to Texas, that my mini-van would break down in the middle of TN, that my husband will need major knee surgery, etc...you just NEVER know. What I DO know is that I have the power to choose what I want to challenge myself with this year! I love a good challenge. I have come to learn that all, great and small, can empower me and/or enhance my life in some way. A fun challenge I am starting this year is taking a photo everyday for a whole year, 365 days of snapshots! (I found a page on FB called SNAP 365 and it sounded like fun!) I am also challenging myself to use my voice more this year. We often think that as one person, we can't do much. But if each ONE did, it would have an effect. I believe that my ability to write is a gift. What am I to do with this precious gift that was given to me? I intend to find out this year! What is your natural gift? What do YOU plan to do with it this year?? Find challenges for yourself, great and small! Commit to being a better version of yourself this year. That's my plan!

~MG~

I AM

Come, and hold your ear to my wrist
Oblige me. Close your eyes

I dare you not to tap your feet
When you hear the beat, feel the rhythm
The pulse…pulse…pulse
Of my people

Then, look at my face, my body, my hair
And dissect me
Can you see the Indian in my hair?
Do I have a Spanish complexion?
Have I fully grown into my African curves?

It is in my blood, all of it
My DNA will tell the tale
Seers will grab my palm and see it
The land, stolen, the people taken and transplanted
The innocence lost, the blood shed, the cultures infused

Now open your new eyes and see, how it is all a part of me.

~M.G.~