Mom Always Said... {remember?}

"Pearls- Not A Necklace"

{excerpt from my book- release date to be announced}

Do you have bunions, corns & calluses? Not the unsightly protrusions that grow on your feet, but the mind-born ones, heart-born, relationship-born, career-born, past-born, anger-born, envy-born etc...

-Lucky shoes that I wore until I outgrew them-

I auditioned for the girls track team in junior high wearing an old pair of good-looking sneakers from 5th grade. {I won countless prizes from theme parks while wearing them.} Coach Sistrunk was so altogether impressed with my track & field, that he asked me to train with the boys. I was honored, but after a few weeks nature {puberty} took its course, and I discovered that my "new chest" hindered me, since it was no longer a "chest" anymore.

Thus, I bowed out with all confidence knowing that I was great whether I ran for a medal or leisure. More importantly I learned that it wasn't the shoes, which by the way I had long-since outgrown, but "it" was in me all along. Some call "it" TALENT, some say "it's" a GIFT, but others credit GOD. . .

Me and those shoes had an ongoing love affair, but so did my favorite "Miss. Piggy" hooded sweatshirt and I. I wore them both until I could not fit them even the slightest. If my awesome Mother had not thrown them out when she did, I'd have bunions, corns & calluses today. THAT WAS A CLOSE CALL, BUT A GOOD CALL!

Take inventory of your life. What are you clinging to that you need to turn lose? Who are you holding onto that you need to let go of? Are you fooling yourself with a pride-based illusion of happiness? Do you need to win at everything, when not all things are competition?

Slow down. Sit still and take off those shoes that you knew were too exact when you bought them. They never did really fit in the first place. Though it seemed right, looked well and felt good at the time, you knew you needed more room to begin with: SPACE TO GROW.

Life can throw a hell of a wicked curve ball at you like a zenith Roger Clemens pitch. Don't swing at everything that looks hittable or even reasonable. Poor judgment comes from bad logic, plain and simple.

If you have a Mother or someone in your life who is usually RIGHT with super-SHARP discernment, think it over again before your personal happiness is NEVER. Something she may have warned you of over 10 years ago could still remain true in this moment.

Pray and cut your losses while you're ahead.

Life is short, your tomorrow could very well begin today!

Don't be a victim of your own shoes.

~CHANGE CAN BE UNCOMFORTABLE, BUT ADAPTING DOES NOT HAVE TO BE~

author, Mary*Michelle*Richard

Finished listening : Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook By Bette Midler Release date: By 30 September, 2003