This year has brought me few simple lessons to learn and many reasons to be grateful for...  and today on my birthday, I wish to share them with all of you:

• We only have one day, one moment in life.  LIVE IT, enjoy it, choose to be happy and smile.  It will not only make others happy, but you WILL feel better.
• LOVE your family with all your heart.  Mine has been loving, supportive beyond words can say.  Remember NEVER to take them forgranted.  They are also given to us on a loan.  We only have this one moment to say we: "Love you and give them a hug"... or build memories with them.
• Be kind.  Not always easy.  But I have learned this year about the power that human kindness has when someone that needs it.  I am grateful for all the friends around the World and people I barely knew that have showed me through so many acts of kindness, how it raised my spirits and made me believe anything is possible.
• BELIEVE with your heart and soul.  It doesn't matter on what, on God, the power within yourself, Love... it is not just about thinking positive, it is about really believing and being passionate about it.
• DO WHAT YOU LOVE.  Really, life is to short to be unhappy doing something you don't like.

I look forward with optimism and I feel in my heart, that although this is a year that I never expected to live...  it has brought me a new and deeper meaning for life, family, friends and the priorities in my life.   It is not an easy road, but one from which I hope I have learned lessons that will teach me to give more, need less and be more compassionate.

If I can leave this message with one important thought for all those WOMEN Friends out there....  Breast cancer is scary, but it can be healed and the chances are really good, if caught on time.  CHECK YOURSELF, GO GET CHECKED and pay the extra exams yourself if you need to.  As you can see, it can "hit" any of us... no matter how old you are...  Don't be afraid, don't go alone and if you need me...  I will be there, even if it just to have a coffee afterwards to celebrate.

Thank you to all for being there and grateful for each one of you...  you know who you are ;0)

Blanca