I wanted to reach out to you today because I wanted you to know that you made it. That’s right today, I wanted you to know that despite wishing, hoping, thinking, believing you would die before 40. We made it. Today, it is May 16, 2012 and we are 40 years old. Despite it all you are still standing and guess what we turned out to be wonderful. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I guess that is true, but I do know one thing for sure . . . it does make you crazier (despite the downs we never lose our sense of sarcastic humor. haha).

You don’t know this yet, but you are going to make some choices in life that will leave you believing you are truly cursed. Well, you already believe you are cursed. You believe that some people are born only to suffer in life. Something you will believe for many years. Sadly, this belief will make you settle for a life you will constantly wish were different, but feel you cannot change.

I know most people would sit down and warn the young them against all the mistakes they have made. I thought I would too. I won’t. I can’t. I know that your actions are only in response to everything you have been through. I know that your actions and choices make me the woman I am today. I know that your experiences have been lessons for me.

So, I will not tell you to do this instead of that because, I know doing so would only alter the future. For many altering the future would seem like a good idea. You would probably go to college, probably not get married young (you will ask for a divorce . . . eventually. Let’s just say you traded one situation for another), probably not even struggle financially through the years. Yeah those possibilities seem cool, but you may not have the two people in your life who you love unconditionally. Sure, you may have children somewhere down the line, but they wouldn’t be THESE children AND you ADORE these two children.

Guess what?!? You are a pretty good mother too. For someone who was abandoned by her own mother (for reasons we now understand) and raised by a mentally ill father (oh, he may not have been considered so, technically on paper, but I know). I did try to find our mother a few years back however, she has decided that we should just stay in her past. Our father died a few years ago, we were able to forgive him when he asked and he was still a part of our life when he died. You will never really like him, but still love him. We do not hate him we just feel sorry for him.

Anyway, last night even though I went to sleep early, I woke up shortly after we turned 40. I got on my knees in the dark and prayed (something we both don’t do often). I was so thankful for everything and for just being here and I still am as I type this letter to you (through these big crocodile tears).

I have to close the first chapter of my life now. I have to let it all go. I can’t allow any of the pain, feelings of worthlessness, or believing I am cursed come with me in the next chapter of my life. That doesn’t mean I am letting you go. How can I? You are a part of me and that is why I decided to write you. I just wanted to tell you something that you are not telling yourself . . . I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you!

Emergency shelter: provides homeless women with a safe, clean environment and an opportunity to work with caring staff to assess their needs, develop a plan of services, and establish goals for reclaiming their lives.

Transitional housing program: houses women for a maximum of two years. Some of the components of the program include: more independent living, drug and alcohol meetings, life skills classes.

SOAR (Safe Oasis and Residence): provides permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless women with severe mental illness. Residents have their own bedrooms and participate in a range of activities, all of which are structured to help them to stabilize, to increase their ability to take care of themselves and to eventually move into independent housing, recognizing that support may always remain necessary.

Other programs include:

Aftercare Program: serves homeless women for six months past the signing of a housing lease.

Project Employ: a professional development program where individuals are provided with the tools and resources to develop a professional image and the confidence to pursue careers in their areas of personal interest.

Health and Wellness: Medical, podiatry, dental care, gynecological, mental health care

Legal clinic: legal service to those in need who are experiencing family problems, abuse, dependency on drugs and alcohol or other issues that have led them to seek legal help.

Ways you can help:

Volunteer:

• Prepare and/or serve meals
• Coordinate activities for shelter residents like bingo, crafts, games, or manicure nights
• Assist with general office work
• Join the Special Events Committee
• Organize a fundraiser, like a bake sale or car wash
• Share a skill or talent

Donations: Find out how by visiting: Donations page.

To learn more about Bethlehem Haven:

Visit the website
Bethlehem Haven Facebook
Bethlehem Haven Twitter



Heels & Hope is a bi-monthly feature that spotlights non-profit organizations that are dedicated to empowering women and girls.

“This time capsule, which was sealed on 3rd February 1922, is opened today, some 90 years later, in order to show us just how similar that period was to the present situation. The future may also sometimes be the past, and “Time Capsule” creates a new vision of this time-based symmetry. This entails a mixture of styles, a journey from the future to the past and back again.”





“In life, past, present and future collide. And life is not just a sum of what we have been, but also of what we yearn to be. People who do not have a future project, end up becoming the future project of someone else.”





“We cannot create new ideas without knowing the past and without having an idea of where would like to go, without that horizon of expectations that projects us forward.”





“We all need an idea of the future; we cannot enjoy the essence of the present without the past and the future, because then we would be stuck in the midst of ongoing monotony.”





For the Fall 2012 collection, Ana Locking takes a classic favorite and gives it a modern makeover. The collection features three variations on the classic loafer. The loafers have been reworked with a complex tailoring effect, flaps, and tassels.The heels are constructed of colt leather, lizard skin and the classic rigid leather.





I love the collection, there are a few of these heels I would love to have in my closet. With that said, I love the reminder behind this collection just as much. Remember the past, live in the present, plan for the future.