Hope begins in the dark. The person closest to me is a survivor, an achiever, and a force of nature. Carla inspires me to be a better person each day. She admits that even in the darkest moments of her life she knew she would survive and thrive. Today I am humbled to know she is my partner. I offer up some quotes from Anne Lamott an American novelist, non-fiction writer, and political activist. I think some of the quotes hint at the person Carla is. I think if you read these quotes you will see Carla.

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”

“It’s funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools – friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty – and said ‘do the best you can with these, they will have to do’. And mostly, against all odds, they do.”

“I’ve heard people say that God is the gift of desperation, and there’s a lot to be said for having really reached a bottom where you’ve run out of any more good ideas or plans for everybody else’s behavior; or how to save and fix and rescue; or just get out of a huge mess, possibly of your own creation.”

“Life is really pretty tricky, and there’s a lot of loss, and the longer you stay alive, the more people you lose whom you actually couldn’t live without.”

Hope a precious thing, so today I thank Carla for some of the hope I have. I also thank the powers that put us together. Peace.