In one day ... a baby is born, an old man dies, and we have the chance to engage in an affair.

I wanted him to love me. To help me learn to fly. To believe I was the most beautiful songbird to have sweetly sung melodies to him on his balcony. But I fell short. I missed the landing. 

You might be familiar with my Facebook page, Dana Andrews (https://www.facebook.com/iamdanaandrews/). It is a safe haven where we find courage, compassion, hope, empathy, and healing. It is a place where almost 1,700 survivorshelp one another learn to deal with the heinous treatment we endured at the hands of our abusers. It's an environment of comfort where we learn to find the beauty within our own souls. There is no better place to be; when you are already at the bottom, the only place left to go is upward!

One of the many perks of liking this Facebook page (in addition to getting to know other survivors) is that it is free! You have nothing to lose, yet so much to gain! So how did this all begin? 

Recently I flew from Las Vegas to Phoenix. When passing through the security line I was delayed while they searched my handbag. Knowing they'd find nothing suspicious, I casually suggested to the 2 TSA agents rifling through my bag, "Should you find anything I don't need, please feel free to discard it!"

How many of us saddle ourselves with much more than we need? This question applies to more than material baggage. We're talking emotional baggage here

None of us knew we could ever be extraordinary. In fact, we thought ourselves a burden and unworthy.

We found ourselves in a place where we silenced both our instincts and our screams. We wanted to shed our skin, wipe away our horror, leave the lights on all night long, and be anywhere but where we were.