sometimes you have to lead your heart....

"...you can't always "follow" your heart ~ sometimes, you have to lead it..."

I love that line from the movie "Fireproof" because it is so true.

Love shouldn't be a fight or a struggle - but it should always be worth fighting for! My grand-daddy would tell me: "Sandy, if it is easy, anybody can do it...easy isn't necessarily the best. If you aren't willing to work for it, then you don't want it bad enough."
I agree with him ~ and I agree that the farmer will not by the cow if he is getting the milk for free!

I have had days when I've been on top of the world and I've had days when I have felt like the world is on top of me ~ right on my shoulders! Doors haven't just closed, they've actually SLAMMED in my face and trying to force them back open has only proven more painful than the initial shock and hurt. I guess sometimes when a door closes ~ you just need to LOCK IT! LOL!

"One door closes, another one opens" isn't that they way it goes? HHMMM... wonder how long that takes? As I was coming home from Chattanooga today, I was flipping radio channels and stopped because I heard Tim McGraw (I ALWAYS stop for Tim McGraw!) and he was singing "Live Like You Were Dying" which for me, given all that I've been through recently, touched home. Some of the lines are something like..."I loved deeper, I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness that I'd been denying... I became a friend a friend would like to have...Live like tomorrow was a gift and you've got eternity to think about what you did with it..."

I'm not dying, THANK GOD! I'm surviving! It's strange to think about, but I never really knew how to forgive until I knew how to love and I didn't know love until I let go of the "control" on my heart. I was completely bewitched, captivated, mesmerized by another individual ~ I had no control!
Doors close...Time heals…Windows open…
I’ve tried to live my life with as little regret as possible ~ when I have had reason to regret, I find that it is regret for the things I DID NOT do more so than for the things I DID do! I’ve lived 41+ years this way ~ I hope I have 40+ more! LOL!!! I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe in; go to battle for what I know is true, right, honest; speak my mind or my heart… I’m not afraid to lose but I always, always want to try! Failure isn’t necessarily defeat…just like being couageous isn’t about not having fear!
Living life – Laughing at myself & enjoying the beautiful, loving people around me! Always Loving with an open, free heart without worrying too much about the path I’ve traveled, hurt from the past, or what tomorrow might throw my way, because, truthfully, I would walk back through all the heartache and pains that I’ve experienced over the past 40+ years to get right back to where I am today!
NO REGRETS… LIFE IS GOOD… I AM BLESSED!!!

My favorite...

I don't like "stuff" ~ I am not a material girl.
I am passionate ~ my heart and my love are pure...

For years I was the Ice Princess...
but I've been awakened ~

I don't ask for much ~
Honesty and Respect mean more to me
than anything money can acquire.

Life is good...

I'm a Mother, a Friend, a Christian, and a Survivor...
My name is Sandy Turk and I'm a breast cancer survivor. Diagnosed in May, 2009, I underwent a double bilateral mastectomy on July 1, 2009.
As the 41 yr old single mother of a 14 yr old teenage daughter, "CANCER" is not the diagnoses one expects to hear (not that anyone "plans" on having cancer) but, frankly, I just simply did not have time to deal with it!
Well... it certainly had time to deal with me!
Fighting battles is one area in life that I'm not only experienced at, but I'm good at as well... I have always been a survivor, having been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 1989, and I FIGHT LIKE A GIRL... TO WIN!
I underwent the double mastectomy and began reconstruction immediately... my "team" of surgeons at Erlanger Hospital is simply the best! It is amazing what a talented, experienced “Reconstruction Surgeon” can do! “Real” may be “better” (except mine tried to kill me) but the “fake girls” are SPECTACULAR! (An aside: Cancer took my breast, not my sense of humor!”)
Thanks to the careful and consistent monitoring of Dr. Wachsmuth, I was diagnosed early and I am now Cancer Free!
The emotional battle has been equally significant (if not greater) than the physical, but, my "team" of friends and my faith in GOD have provided the inspiration and motivation needed to make it through each day, each phase, each doctor visit and each procedure. It is truly amazing what a word, a smile, a tear can do for the soul... even without words, ones heart understands when another is lifting it up!
Cancer changed me physically, emotionally, spiritually... I will never be the same woman that I was before - I'm better! Life is a precious gift to be treasured and nurtured... tomorrow isn't a guarantee, it is a privilege! A good (very wise) friend told me once that I needed to do two things, in addition to not giving in and/or not giving up: The first is not to focus on the mountain, but to focus on "the one" that can MOVE the mountain; the second is that courage is not being "fearless" but it is having the "fear" and moving forward anyway!
Each day, I remember those words... many days through tears... some "not so much"... but always, always, always with an "attitude of gratitude" that I am alive and that I have been afforded another day to live and the powerful choice to not give in and not give up!
I'm not afraid to stand alone; I'm not afraid to fight; I'm not afraid to lose... I am afraid to quit!
I have too much life left to live... a beautiful, talented daughter to watch, in awe, achieve more than I can imagine possible... a heart full of love to share...
"Laughter and Passion" are my strengths…they are my SUPER-POWERS!
Life is short... I plan to live, love, laugh – each and every day - with an unconditional passion and without regret!
GOD is with me, always, in the midst of my struggles & my battles! I cannot be defeated… in the end, I WIN!
Isaiah 43:2 “…when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned…”
Breast cancer picked the wrong woman... I'm a survivor!