...You may not feel it for a while, then something happens, and you are reminded by a sharp twinge of pain, that oh yeah, there's that little pain again. It's not that you can't handle it. It's an uncomfortable annoyance. Nothing less, nothing more. That's what life seems to be made of sometimes. Learning what hurts and staying away from it. A healthy gift of fear. If you touch the hot stove, without a mitten, you reach again someday, and catch your breath and yourself, and stop. You take precautions, you protect yourself, and you proceed. Life's little lessons. Sometimes they hurt. It's the big hurts that take their toll. It's the big hurts that can make you afraid to try again....

I have a few thorns and splinters
6/30/2004
I have no formal training,
Just know a few big words,
And people think I’m kinda smart
. But I carry around this ole’ heart,
That's been broke a million times.
And I use words to wash it clean,
Each time it bleeds again.
And I ache for such a long time,
If I let someone close enough to love.
And so yes, I have a few thorns and splinters,
Buried deeply in my soul,
And I don’t think that’s so smart,
If you ask me.
But nobody hardly ever does.