Thank you Chatty. I printed JJ's beautiful post and have been reading it and finding such empowerment and strength in her words. When I began this thread, it stemmed out of days, weeks and months of focusing on building and nurturing a postive gratitude attitude. For the most part, that has led me to safe ground. But there was still a profound undercurrent of fear that felt like, well, I'll use a line out of my own book, felt like the quicksand was going to reach up and grab me by the ankles and swallow me whole. I knew from good experience not to allow that fear to fester, so came here to speak it out loud. All of the responses, the care expressed and the words of encouragement and understanding have helped to empower me to speak to the fear and be strong against it. JJ's words, and now yours too, remind me that these patches of dark are normal passages of grief and that it's not my totality. I realize that I just have to deal with them face-to-face and move past them.

My most fervent prayer, every moment of my day, is to be light, to speak love and light into the darkness...to help candle other people out of their own darkness. So your words are dear to my heart. Thank you!