♥~The Box~♥

Good morning my blog friends...

I have a special blog today that has nothing to do with scrapbooking.

Today I wanted to share my special holiday story.

♥The story behind this very special box♥

Many who know me even online know I am a survivor of

extreme childhood and adult abuse.

I am a strong advocate for children who have been abused

and often share my stories and struggles as an adult who successfully survived.

So it is no shock that I have very few good childhood memories.

In fact I really believe that every bad experience I had as a child probably

little by little erased any good ones, so I feel very blessed to have some

wonderful memories at my grandmother's house.

I remember going to her home and everything that was bad in my life

would slip away for a few short hours and I became a princess who was loved

and adored and respected, if only for the day.

My grandma "Ginger" would take me in her room and let me sit on

her water bed and put her hair in rollers and brush it as much as I wanted.

She let me look in her jewelry drawers and try on her earrings, she told

me how pretty I was and what a good girl I was, how much she loved me.

I never heard that at home, I never thought I was a good girl.

I always thought I was a horrible ugly little girl who was bad in her heart.

It was an experience I will never forget going to her home and spending

time carefree like a child should be.

She taught me to can green beans, cook oatmeal and gave me my first

bowl of Trix cereal. All such small things but left a lasting impression on me.

Anyways..before I moved away from Oregon I spoke with my Grandpa's new

wife and told her "If you ever find a pair of clip on earrings from my grandma

please let me know, just one pair would be so nice" And I told her my story

of sitting in her room. 5 years later this week I received a big box

in the mail. I had no clue what it was it just said "Oregon" and

was from my grandpa. I cut the box open and immediately began crying

I could not stop the tears from flowing at that point.

In fact I cannot stop crying while I type this out!

I saw the wood and I knew exactly what it was.

It was the jewelry box my grandmother let me dig through

and pick out those earrings to try on. I pulled it out and I could

smell the wood in my living room. At 35 years old I did not think a box

would ever bring me to tears. I opened it up and inside was a note...

"I did not find a pair of clip-ons but I thought you would like this,

your Grandpa made this for Ginger and it is dated on the back".

I don't think my boys understood why mom sat in the living room on

her knees crying for a half hour. I don't think that Dennise (who sent the box)

will ever truly understand what this meant to my broken heart.

The moments with my grandma were some of the only pain free

safe moments of my entire first 16 years in life. Those moments I hang on to

for dear life. I had nothing tangible to touch or hold from those days.

What an amazing way to end the year of 2010.

I had to share with my friends online...and for anyone

who is a survivor...It DOES get better and you do find those

good memories after time and healing.

Oh and one more note at the INSISTENCE of my friend Molly...here is what she wrote yesterday in my comments ♥

Molly said...

I'd like to take a moment of everyone's time to ask you to nominate Cristal/Pinkie for her blog in this year's Eleventh Annual Weblog Awards: The 2011 Bloggies! http://2011.bloggi.es She surely belongs as a nominee in the category of Best Art, Craft, or Design Weblog"!!!! Let's show our girl some love and take the time to fill out a ballot. You only need to come up with two other blogs in some category to win. Join me in nominating Cristal/Pinkie, won't you??? She won't pimp herself, but I will!!! <3

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Molly you are so amazing...LOL You crack me up woman!~

~Thanks for sharing my life with me~

~Have a wonderful day~

~Pinky~