Dress: Stella Nolasco; Makeup & Hair: Alfredo Monterola; Raquel Pérez-Puig; Location: LL

A while ago I was interviewed by a very good friend and ex-co-worker and she asked me if life had been good to me.  “Life is life”, I answered, “and I have decided to make it good.”

On a day like today,  I want to give thanks for all my blessings.  Last year, I was at my extended American family’s home celebrating Thanksgiving feeling quite miserable.  It was my first Thanksgiving without my husband who had passed away only five months earlier after battling disease after disease for three consecutive years.  Ten years ago today, we had gotten married and had promised each other to be together “Till death do us part.”

But life is so fascinating and oh so unexpected if you only stop to contemplate all that surrounds you.  If you realize that we find ourselves in a temporary place and that we have the responsibility  to make the best of it.  This Thanksgiving I am happy because I decided to make life a happy place.  I took charge of my life, as I always do.

At this very moment I am surrounded by family, health, was given the opportunity to  combine all my skills to create a community of women who inspire me and I’ve looked up to them for advice.  Women who also might feel lonely either because they are going through an empty nest syndrome, have lost a loved one, have been left by their significant other (and maybe it was his loss)  and have welcomed me into their hearts and  have made me part of their lives.

I am very blessed.

I know life is very unpredictable.  I have been there.  Tomorrow is tomorrow and I will deal with what comes my way then.  I want you to do the same.  But now, today,  I  give thanks to God and to the fact that I have been given this unique and magnificent opportunity to connect with so many people in such a positive manner.

May God bless you all and may you also be aware of all the beauty and blessings that surround you.

 Open your eyes, open them wide and let that lovely light shine in.

This is our opportunity. We only have one life.

Let’s make it a memorable one.

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