Dear Darlings,

This damn game is gonna be the death of me. I might even have a bit of an addiction to it. I play it when I’m bored, when I’m sleepy, when I wake up or whenever I’m waiting on something. And it’s all Claire’s fault. She introduced me to it. Word Cookies is the name and word-smithing is the game. You take letters and rearrange them to make words.

This morning’s puzzle hit me right in the kisser. Hard. With all its might.

BRAVERY was sitting there in glorious form. It’s been a big deal for me lately. To be brave. And this puzzle was a shining example for me.

I worked through and words kept popping out at me. Showing me I’m on the right path. The path away from fear and toward the fork in the road that is bravery. Let me explain…

This is the order in which I found these words. Bravery. Are. Bar. Bare. Very. Brave. Rare. Rear. Year. Err. Ray. Rave. Braver.

At this point, I am braver than I ever thought possible. So here’s what I see in the words that have become my tea leaves today.

When you are braver than you think you can be, when you lay your very soul bare to those who love you, when you bar demons, when you err on the side of healing, when you rear your head against guilt and shame and see the ray of light beckoning you, you are rare and special and precious. This is your year to embrace bravery and set the bar high so you can rave through the rest of your days knowing, just knowing, you can survive.

Look how many beautiful words there are in BRAVERY. Go. Go embrace them all.

xo,

me

ps. the last word of the puzzle was raver.