Step into the present

[karen rae elkins]

I've lived in survival mode for so long. It is all I've known. I will forever reach out to those being abused. However, now that my divorce is final I'm determined to live . How does one start to live life when there brain is stuck in survival mode? I'm not truly free until I stop having thoughts of abuse invade my mind. I encourage you to make your list of things you'd like to do. Start living your dreams past the abuse. Before the abuse I did things like watch the sun set over the Atlantic, I spent the night in Central Park.. I helped 7 other artist paint a mural of Marilyn Monroe in an abandoned building and was a belly dancer in a play. Fishing was my anchor, it kept me going. Mom would often comment, "Karen there is more to life than fishing." Don't you just hate it when your mom is right? So, sisters start making a list to live your life to the fullest and slowly take steps to take your life back into your own hands. Record your list in a photo album. Find your way back to you while we continue to fight for justice for the abused. Abuse is heavy. Take breaks every now and then to revive yourself so that you may fight the good fight. This is our time of freedom. My first task will be to plant a fruit tree as a symbol of growing. As the tree grows, so do I.

I want to plant a huge rose garden.
Play kickball
Own a dog
Learn to use a remote
Attend a play in NYC
watch the sun set on the water as many times a week as possible
create a culinary book of recipes I create
Meet Sarah Palin
share my talents
Duck Hunt
Pheasant Hunt
Travel up the east coast and through Canada to the West coast in an RV.
Take a riverboat ride from New Orleans up the Mississippi
Have a special collection of tea cups and saucers and baskets
Ride a horse.
Take a fishing boat from the east coast of Florida around to the Gulf.
Tour the wine country in California, walk the fields, sample and collect wine
Stay on a Native American Reservation
Have a first date every other week
Own a extra small love shack on a river, maybe 4, 1 for each season.
Carve my name on a tree in a National Forest.
Catch a sailfish.
Find my childhood friends
Live on a houseboat
Visit 50 different museums
Spend a weekend in bed watching chick flicks and having food delivered
Own a fur coat ( when the people and children issues have been cured then I'll worry about animals)
Fly Fish for trout in Colorado
Share a meal with an elderly couple
identify the leaves by the way they sound when they fall
Pass down all the good I can
spend a day on the lake swimming, no fishing poles allowed
spend the day on the beach and the night at a Reggae Bar
Eat crawdads cooked by a real Cajun from LA
Play the old school games like Candyland and Twister with my friends
See Rock City
learn to use a pottery wheel
Share a prayer with a stranger who needs hope.
Clean out the parents basement
See my sister Christie Thomas in South Africa
Explore the mountain my family settled
Buy many bird feeders and watch the birds
Get into making jams and jellies again
Catch all 8 species of bass in a year with my gf's who fish.
Pick up Maureen in Kansas and take her fishing


I think I've said it more than once, "Live all your dreams in the Present."

[karen rae elkins]

I love the graphic. If John Lennon were alive today he could compose one heck of a theme song.

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

Okay, you are forgiven. LOL

[karen rae elkins]

forgive me Maureen. I edited the list!

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

KAREN!

You did not put on the list the following:

Pick up Maureen in Kansas and take her fishing.

What kind of list was that without including me?

:)

[karen rae elkins]

Lets dp it Delilah. Tour Bus across the country. Caravan. We'd need a major sponsor like Exxon, The Today Show...., Ask for Obama economic stim money to promote awareness and help women. The PEACE OUT BUS. Maybe we could stop in one of those mining towns and pan for gold along the way. It was on my list, just the list got too long.