So now you will know:

I'm one of those people.
The kind who post quotes about being brave and loving and all those things that peel off my outer layers and expose myself to the whole world.
That person the expression "wears her heart on her sleeve" was invented for.
The person who uses a lot of italics because I write the way I speak, with lots of emphasis and emotions and hand gestures.
The person who will write this and then be embarrassed about how it sounds so over-dramatic and what-if-people-make-fun-of-me-and-maybe-I-should-delete-it.
The person who always makes the bold gestures anyway, but then gets scared/retreats/hides, usually with the accompaniment of a mad panic attack.

But the more blogs I read where people speak what is in their hearts, the more I think that maybe there is a tribe for me out there, even if it's virtual.
Maybe there is a place where people won't make fun of me because I am so sensitive that it's easy to do. Where they won't play 'Let's laugh at that girl because we can tell how open and scared she is from a million miles away.'

So I want to write things here, and not only post art photos.
Ok, partly that's because I don't have any photos from my latest art -  It's sort of secret, like a therapy session, and I'm not quite brave enough for that.
But what I do have is a lot of thoughts, swirling around everywhere, and I am trying to figure out what this new thing called My Life is going to be from here out.
You've been warned: Here there be dragons.

And this is the quote I wanted to post today, the one that begins this chapter of the story.

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
— C.S. Lewis