STOP. Before you continue, it is imperative that you read this or you will not understand a word I’m saying. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

http://christytrujillo.blogspot.com/2009/06/inventory.html

The question is… “Who am I?” The answer is of course very simple and was there all along. I am…me. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t know who I was, it’s that I didn’t like who I was. There was this person that would stare back at me from the mirror and I would cringe. You’re ugly, you’re stupid, you’re nothing, I would tell the girl. She never fought back and the abuse continued. Then the girl would foolishly turn to those around her and expect them to fix her. Being “Their daughter, her friend, his girlfriend, his wife, his mom” was just an excuse to avoid being the only thing I could be which was and is, MYSELF. Since this post I have published two novels and am currently finishing the third in my series. Fate has been a very large part of these books and somewhere in between Emmy’s Heart and the first few chapters of Sarah’s Fate I managed to find Christy’s courage. The courage to look within myself for happiness because, honey, the only person that can make you happy…I mean truly happy, is you. And before you can love someone else…I mean truly love them, you have to learn to love yourself. And I have. Do I still have my days? Of course. I’m still a girl. But now when I look around me I see my parents, and my BFF, and my honey, and my son and I am happy.

For my 31st birthday I have decided to get a tattoo of the word believe over the scar on my wrist. Why believe? Because that’s all we have. The only thing that cannot be taken away from us is our ability and capacity to believe. Believe in fate, in God, in love, in unicorns, in vampires. Without that, without something to hold onto and believe in, what are we? What do we have but empty spaces inside of us longing to be filled? So now when I’m brushing my teeth or putting on my Twilight bracelet I won’t see a scar. I’ll see my husband’s face, and my son’s smile. I’ll hear Maria laughing and Courtney talking in her funny guy voice, (you really should hear that, it’s hilarious) and think the words ‘published author’ because at the end of the day, I believe in me.

I will never forget my first love or the pain I felt and I’m glad. Because without that, without everything I’ve been through, what the hell would I write about? 😉

Hi, I’m Christy. I’m a published author with a “gift for tense and revealing dialogue” (I didn’t write that, it’s from a review of Emmy’s Heart) and more stories to tell. I’m the mother of a great kid and the wife of a very hardworking man. I’m friends with some amazing girls (and guys) and am happy to say, have stopped abusing the girl in the mirror. It’s nice to meet you.

Update…

So there was this guy (no, not THE guy), this other guy, from high school. I met him the summer before ninth grade and liked him right away. He was very cute, sweet, funny, smart, did I say cute? He lived in my neighborhood and we…I don’t even know what to say…we would ride bikes and kiss on the golf course, that was really the extent of it. When school started I began dating this other guy, Nick, and Neighborhood guy tried to win me back for a while. I had moved on though, so I didn’t think twice about it. Well, cute boys tend to get cuter as they grow and by our Sophomore year, I was regretting the whole Nick thing. We went back and forth, even during THE guy, and definitely in the aftermath of THE guy. One incident really sticks with me though. Directly after THE guy, I started dating this other fella named Cale. (Yes, that’s where I got the name) Cale was sweet but when he was mad, whoo… you better watch out. One night, we got in a fight and he pushed me into the doorframe of his truck. I’m not sure if he meant to hurt me but I was hurt just the same. The next thing I know, people are telling me Neighborhood guy went and jumped in his face telling Cale he would regret it if he ever laid a hand on me again. At this point, Neighborhood guy and I weren’t even speaking since he was ‘popular’ and thanks to my Wicked Witch of the North (True North reference. Pick it up 10/1/11 to see what I’m talking about) I no longer was. I have no idea how Neighborhood guy found out. Later that year, I may or may not have taken something special from Neighborhood guy, though I admit to nothing. To be honest, I felt like I’d taken advantage of him then, and then again this other time at a party because neighborhood guy has HUGE feet. And you know what they say about boys with big feet. Yeah, big shoes. 😉

After graduation I saw Neighborhood guy a few more times, just as friends. Then he moved. Fast forward about six years to the world of Facebook. Here he is. I’m excited to see him. Friend request him and I get this LOOOONG email that he doesn’t feel like we should be friends out of respect for his wife and that he didn’t treat me the way someone should be treated. I’m utterly dumbstruck reading this then I think okay maybe his wife is a ‘you can’t be friends with old flames’ kind of wife. But when I look on his page, he is friends with old flames. Just not me. So I’m left to wonder where we went wrong and miss him because he was that guy that always got under my skin. He was that friend that would always tell me when I was being ridiculous and apparently, stick up for me, even when I didn’t know about it. I dream about him sometimes and it makes me sad. Like, really, wake up crying sad. I don’t know why. I dreamt about him last night. We were in Alaska with his parents and little sister camping and it was very cold. Totally random, I haven’t thought about him in a while so I don’t know why I dreamt of him last night. It just makes me sad and I wish I knew whatever it was that I did to make it so easy for him to forget me.

You give these little pieces of your heart away all of your life and very rarely do you get them back. I think that’s why old people are so grumpy.