Christine...Anything is POSSIBLE!

Regular readers of Shell Shock Serenade  are certainly aware that I value straight forward, blatant honesty when one is dealing with life's various issues or curve-balls. I also just plain value openness and honesty in all aspects of a persons life. Bluntness...in my book is most certainly a virtue though a vast segment of our society here in America  probably would NOT agree.

But when you are dealing with life and death issues every day, honesty can truly be the difference between living and dying.

So with all this being true for me it should come as no surprise that I tend to gravitate to blogs, websites and articles that are about real life and survival in this big-ole bad world we live in. 

One of the very first blogs I started reading after I started my own was by a woman out in LA by the name of Christine Macdonald whose blog goes by the same name. And man did this woman have a story to tell. 

Her story is not for the faint of heart or for those people who want to shelter themselves and pretend nothing bad ever happens to people. These very same folks also tend to be the same one's who right people like Christine and myself off as "bad people", "evil" and "hopeless". They couldn't more wrong about that....

I don't want to spoil her story for anyone who would like to hit the link above and check her story out for yourselves but I'll give a brief over-view here:

She grew up in Waikiki, Hawaii and at the age of 14 suffered from a horrible, disfiguring case of Acne on her face and other parts of her body. It was so serious it required surgery. How awful for a 14 year old girl and the damage to her self esteem/self image was severe...life threatening even.

After graduating High School, she became a stripper in the clubs in Waikiki and spent the next decade lost in that world that include abuse, drugs...you name it. Her story of perseverance and courage to this day leaves me breathless. I truly admire her and am proud to have gotten to know her a little bit, at least in the blog sense.

Her story is an inspiration to not only all woman who have overcome issues of abuse, addiction and severely low self image but it has an important message for all of us: Never give up on yourself, you are WORTH the TROUBLE!