At times I must take a breather and congratulate myself at my stamina for survival. It's not that I am continually under dire circumstances - believe me, I have had many of those - it's more at my capacity to survive heartache.

I have a heart that suffers greatly when friends or family turn away. These days I am beginning to respond rather quickly. I absorb the wounds without resistance but the mental processes hop to the rescue and do their damage control and swiftly deliver conclusions and wisdoms to the central core of me.

The fact that I have a decidedly chirpy streak makes healing responses that much quicker. I think the muscle tone of my character is decidedly defined. I can't say the same for my decaying physical body but that subject is a horse of another color and I don't want to go there right now.

I have now healed from the hardest heartbreak of my life thus far and the experience has left me softer, kinder and stronger.

I was discarded and have been forced to examine the very structure of my social development. And after all that - hunger, poverty, fear and unfathomable sorrow I am emerging with a stronger will, a sense of self and the desire to achieve those goals which bring fulfillment.