I'm not one to get excited by forwarded e-mail.  But this one came from a dear friend, so I read it.  And right off the bat, I was hooked.  I don't know who originally wrote this, but her words are timeless and true.  And so I share them with you, the Stand Up Moms.

*Invisible Mother*.....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Every girl, every woman, makes mistakes. It’s inevitable. Unfortunately, we put the spotlight on our mistake allowing ourselves to feel shame or to feel inferior to others.  But we should turn off the spotlight and only be concerned with whether or not we started making right decisions after our mistakes. No one can change the past.  Not possible.  Can't happen. We live in the now, and can make the future different than the past. It’s never too late to turn a mistake into an opportunity.

Everyone needs to accept that they are not perfect; therefore, in their past there are going to be blunders. Everyone has these blunders - even the best of us. When you make a mistake the first thing you have to do is accept it, but after that, you have to make the decision to not let the mistake define you. If you make a mistake that you regret you are in good company. There is nothing new under the sun and there is no mistake that you have made that someone else has not already made.

It's that time of year again. But as the whole world seems to be dizzy with decorating, spending and cooking up a storm, there are others who aren't catching onto the festive spirit. Some are holding themselves back from all the joy floating around in the air. A deep tingling in the hearts of all people, fulfilling a long ago uttered prophecy by the angels to some shepherds during the first noel "On earth, peace and goodwill to all people."

Experience is one way to learn from mistakes, but a much less painful way is to listen to the advice of someone you trust.  My dad often tried to drill some dating standards into my head, but when I was in High School I didn't think he could possibly know what I was going through...

Finding the right guy is hard!  Sure, it's easy when you're cruising the mall, smoothie in hand, to find a boy that makes your heart race, but what then?  If you manage to talk to him, how do you know if he's the kind of guy who'll treat you right or if he's just in it for sex?   What's a good basis for a relationship?  Should you be friends first? What happens if the guy is already your friend?  Will it change things?  If you break up will it ruin the good thing you have established?  Why does everything have to be so complicated?

I recently had a bout with Lyme disease.  I was visiting my best friend in California and we decided to go hiking in the woods.  Later that night I discovered that I had been bitten by a tick.  About two weeks later I came down with some really weird symptoms so I went to see the doctor right away.  He put me on heavy doses of medication and referred me to see a specialist.  When I saw the specialist he asked me if there was a possibility that I could have syphilis.  He was asking because Lyme disease and syphilis look very similar.