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Are you afraid of the dark? When I was a little girl the dark terrified me. With a hearing impediment (from which I recovered) it wasn’t the sounds of the night that scared me, it was the shadows. My overactive imagination made up for those things I couldn’t quite visualize. It was terrifying.
My father said to toughen up, so no night light for me. My mom would wait until my dad was sleeping and then turn on the hall light. She truly meant to help me; the problem was that everything I could see had an accompanying shadow to go with it. My imagination knew no bounds. Some nights I’d stay awake until the first rays of sunshine shown through my bedroom window. Then I “knew” I was safe and I’d sleep.
I grew up and overcame my fear of shadows – a good thing.
And then in my late twenties I had one of those “close call” experiences that gave me a renewed and much greater love for sunshine. I was attacked, brutally raped and beaten. But I escaped from the men involved and most importantly I survived. As I made my way to freedom that morning, the sun was just rising. In spite of the pain, I was so grateful to see and feel the morning light (knowing I’d get to see my children grow up), that in that very moment, the shining sun became a beacon of hope and renewal.
My children are grown now and my love of the sunshine is stronger than ever. Sunshine is a wonderful thing. The day is always a little bit brighter (both figuratively and literally) when the sun
is shining. Many many songs, poems, quotes and sayings have/are being written about sunshine.
Today the sun is shining for me (once again both ways) but primarily because of the amazing bloggers I have connected and shared with online, these past several years.
As I work towards completion of my book, I give thanks to you for supporting me, for caring, sharing and being uniquely you…may the sun shine brightly on you wherever you may be today.
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“For every negative thing that happens in our life I believe there is a positive. A golden beacon just around the corner (like the sun) waiting to guide us to a better place.” ~ P.L. Howe, 2014~
Bless you all,
~ Penny
The Why About This 
You are such a brave person Penny. You inspire me very much. Thanks for sharing nice thoughts with us.
My pleasure to do so Indira. We all have various experiences in life that shape us in a variety of ways. If any of my thoughts on what I’ve learned from life experiences make a positive difference for others, I am content. Thank you dear friend for your loving and caring words, so very much appreciated! xx
You have such phenomenal strength Penny, and unlike many who are broken after such a tragedy, your heart seems to have opened even further. I understand well fearing the dark, as I grew up fearing it too, given this is when my father would come to my room. It took many years for me to embrace the darkness. Thank you for the inspiration you have shown us dear friend. Love to you and your family.
Hello dearest sister. Those dark nights as a child, for you are both sad and scary at the same time, LuAnn. I am so pleased you grew up to be the amazingly loving and caring person that you are today, and a friend of mine too, so I’m luck with that one! Much love to you, as always. xo
It took some time to embrace the darkness but I know I am a stronger person for having endured a less than idyllic childhood. Thank you for your lovely comment Penny. Love you bunches! 🙂
Your bunches of love has made my day, dear friend! Thank you! 🙂
Thoughts of you drift through my mind often and they always bring a smile to my face. 🙂
I lived in a big, creepy house in the middle of the country as a child. It was full of shadows and it creaked in the night. My overactive imagine often stood in the way of me getting to sleep. For a while, I even kept a knife under my pillow, just in case of … who knows what?
Ohhh Sarah, that sounds really scary, especially for a child. I don’t blame you a bit! 🙂
Your life is a beautiful sunshine, Penny and a lovely inspiration to many. 🙂 Congratulations in advance with the upcoming book 🙂
Thank you, Celestine. For both your beautiful caring words and your well wishes with my book (If I can ever finish it, LOL) I have a pleasantly impatient publisher politely moving me forward! 🙂
Fave neigh…YOU are the SUNSHINE in our hood! 😉
Sorry about the attack & all that happened with that.
But – sooooooo thankful that you are alive & well & showed them @$$^*%^ that you own your life!
xo 🙂 🙂 xo
You know, I was so happy to survive (was fairly certain I wouldn’t during the event) that it has stayed with me.,,the gratitude! And yes RoSy, I do own my life!!!! Dearest and best neighbor of mine! 🙂 xo
That you can be so full of sunshine after something so horrific is testament to your words. I’m sorry that you endured such an attack. Rising above that takes fortitude and faith which you obviously have in abundance. May the sun always shine for you.x
Thank you. It did take years to find an emotionally healthy balance, but I stay so very grateful that I am alive with each passing day that my gratitude is stronger than the anger and fear I initially felt for what occurred that night. Thank you for your loving words and caring thoughts, so very much appreciated by me! xx
This is such a positive read.
I hope the Sun helps the many who were victims of violence and abuse in recent past.
My best wishes for your forthcoming book.
Thank you, very much my friend, most especially for your best wishes! xx
I am so glad you are still here with us, and become the sunshine to some of us.
KC
Thank you, most kindly KC for your warm and caring words! xx
First, I am so sorry. None of us, not one of us deserves to be attacked to have our lives changed in such a brutal manner. I am so sorry, I understand and you have my empathy and my compassion, my heart embraces you.
I have slept with a light on nearly my entire life, certainly my entire adult life. I do not like the shadows and I refuse to wake in a dark room.
Thank you, very much for your kind and thoughtful words, Valentine. May the sun fill your days (and nights) with only good thoughts, my friend! xx
I’m so sorry Penny about the attack but also inspired that you were able to rise above the horror of it all, you survived and the sun is shining again!
Blessings to you my friend!
Much love!
Thank you kindly, for your both your blessings and your loving words, Seyi. Much love to you, my friend.
Penny, you are such a postitive and uplifting person I would never have imagined that something so horrible could have happened to you. I am so sorry to hear that you went throug that. Thank you for being such a heartful person, you are indeed a blessing to the earth 🙂
Hi Ivonne, thank you, dear friend, for your wonderful words. It did take a few years to recover from excessive fear and anger (equal doses), but you learn and move on. Always our choice to decide how we want to ultimately feel about a thing and I like feeling positive much more than I like feeling negative! Much love to you this day and every day! May your sun shine ever so brightly! 🙂 xo
Penny you have sunshine in your heart! even though these horrible things happened to you , you have come to love everything what followed. You deserve all the sunshine and you help brighten other’s lives up with your sunshine and love! Have a wonderful sunny week Penny, with big hugs!
Thank you Ute, dearest friend! xx
The Vashta Nerada.
Seriously though, when I was 13 or 14, I read James Herbert’s The Dark and that did it for me. I had to sleep with the light on for weeks. I was terrified that someone was going to break the door down and saw my legs off or some other nasty was going to jump out at me.
I saw this today, and I think it fits in perfectly with your post.
Have a great week Penny. Hugs to you and your family
Yes I’m certain the Vashta Nerada hung out at my house a lot when I was a kid! LOL, and I agree, teddy bears definitely are protectors! That’s too cool, Alastair. Hope your week is going well for you and yours also, my friend! 🙂 xo
Thanks Penny. I am taking Farrah to London tomorrow for her 16th birthday. She loves the Natural History Museum, so naturally I am clearing my camera memory card(s) and charging my battery(s).
I am on a reduced blogging diet at the moment. I have reduced some aspects of blogging but I still have no time for me or my course or my book. So I am doing one post a day and only visiting rarely. I hate doing it, but I need the time.
How are you doing?
You and Farrah have loads of fun at the museum, Alastair. Your reduced blogging diet is a good idea. Hopeful it will free up your creative writing time. Doing well here. Lot of writing going on,and rewrites (sigh) lots of that too!
Thanks, I am hoping so. I have been rewriting as I have been writing as well. It can be a pain in the bottie when I have just contradicted something I said earlier.