Once upon a Glitter...

Welcome to "The Glitter Queen's Blog / A Blog for All Warriors"! Let today be the start of something new. A day of invocation, of declaration and proclamation. This blog will always be dedicated to those who battle chronic and incurable illnesses like myself, for the #ChronicallyFabulous and the #YouDontLookSick Club. This will be a place of affirmation, education and information. As if in modern day soliloquy and from the depths of my heart I pour out my poetic rhythms and pleas of a cure for our illness while sharing our triumphs and success with all warriors and advocates alike. I hope to one day rank amongst the likes of one Dear Abby who penned quite eloquently for the masses and created a niche all her own.  If you wish to master in etiquette you turn to Emily Post; however, if changing someone's day on a whim with a sparkly delight you search out Glitter Queens Global and I'm quite proud of our brand. This has been a long day in coming and with great expectation as our dear friend, Pip, it has finally arrived!

Why Glitter? Glitter has been an ongoing and playful component between my longtime girlfriend and I prior to my leaving the workplace and entering the world of chronic illness. She and I would gleefully exchange envelopes, gifts and random cards in hopes that we would be the one to "glitter bomb" the other more creatively than the time before. Our game continues to this day. The pseudonym - "The Glitter Queen" was jokingly given and lovingly accepted after I sent a get well card filled with glitter to a friend's uncle who was ailing and in the hospital. The phenomena quickly caught on and grew from store bought cards to homemade, one of a kind pieces and a team now known as Glitter Queens Global. There are no salaries here. We are strictly volunteers. All of the woman on my team battle not only the incurable #Gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach muscles either via diabetes or through damage to the vagus nerve / idiopathic as simply put as I can in this writing) but also a host of other ailments / diseases as well.) We ARE the chronically ill serving the chronically ill! How beautiful is this!

​My story wasn't always a shining beacon of hope! I was born with a neuromuscular disconnect in my eyes meaning that my eyes do not operate as a team and I have one dominant eye which is my right. I do see out of my left eye yet I do not use them as the average person does. Forbearing all scientific terminology let's just call it "weak muscles" or a "lazy eye". I was always an extremely joyful child per my Mother and life never seemed to get me down. Childhood; however, was not easy. When you have eyes that do not operate as a team there is plenty of room for name calling, bullies, time to be shoved into lockers and pillows for sweet April to hug and to hold while tears streamed down her face each day after school. I delved into books, the Dictionary (yes, I am a super nerd) and my school work. I was invited to be a part of MENSA during my seventh grade year; however, my Mother feared I would become even more socially awkward so she declined. I was able to become an inductee into the National Honor Society that year. I even attended USF during the summer of my eighth grade year thus propelling my "super geek" status. Following corrective eye surgery, a haircut and a slight wardrobe change the tables turned for me and suddenly the popular crowd could not get enough of the new girl. I was perplexed at the dichotomy of old v. new April "change of status quo" friendships that came my way and just declined. I look on the inward appearance as I still do. I do not judge a book by it's cover and did not understand why people all of a sudden wanted to be my friend since I had always loved me just the way that I was?! Kids can be extremely cruel and perplexing!

​To get to the point of why we do what we do let me speed things up a bit. An extremely precious and close friend of mine have a theory that everyone has a story that can benefit the masses; possibly a similar story or with similar threads. I will one day share my story with the world; however, we must be careful in the sharing to refrain from leaving unrepairable emotional wakes as well. What good would it do if in my telling my marvelous story that I in turn hurt those around me? It wouldn't. I am bound as a life coach to a code of honor to promote healthy and positive wakes and being as I am now emotionally healed from these situations I will say this - during my childhood, adolescence and early 20's I had many things thrust upon me that no child nor teen should ever have to encounter. No young woman should ever have to endure what I endured but I know now that if these people were whole and complete individuals within themselves that they would have promoted healthy relationships instead of devastating not only themselves but also the lives of those around them. They would have healed instead of wounded. I am not referring to my poor choice of friends or going to clubs etc. There is so much more to share about me and my choices yet this is not what I am referring to here. These situations I could not control.  These tragic times taught me great faith, compassion, tenacity, courage, kindness, strength, a level of forgiveness I never knew I could possess, heightened self awareness that I was born with and self love. I will say that on October 31, 1991 after an accidental overdose I flat lined for a minute and my Mother thought I was dead...well, I was. Paramedics revived me and I was in a coma for 3 days. The physicians told my parents that if I survived - IF - that I would be a vegetable for the rest of my life. Three days later I woke up with no ill effects whatsoever so let's just say I LOVE MY LIFE, chronic illness and all. I went through a divorce later on that almost devastated me to the point of clinical depression which no one ever saw me show signs of yet here I am! I have healed from it all. I have gone through the necessary steps to learn and relearn to love me first in order to properly love others - this is key and some extremely poignant coaching (on me!). I was able to become a certified Career / Life Coach before leaving the workplace and entering a life of chronic and incurable disease. This coaching and my years of training and service in the church as a worship leader for 20 years and a brief stint as an Associate Pastor (brief yet every so rewarding) helped me do what coaches do best: reframe, refocus and repurpose that Dream! The Dream and your Life's Purpose NEVER die. The only thing that will consistently and continuously change is the vehicle in which you use to fulfill your Life's Purpose. There's free coaching tip number 2! You are more than welcome.

​Glitter Queens Global is a Full Service Outreach Center of Hope, Love and Cheer since 2014. I have a team of magnanimous women who serve our entire Gastroparesis (#GP) community and beyond with their whole heart and a lot of #Glitter. I do it because I am thankful to be alive! I almost lost my life once as a teen and twice since entering this GP journey and we are not promised tomorrow. We watch warriors struggle, including ourselves, each and every day and we know the value of a day, of an hour and even a minute! #GLITTERQUEENSGLOBAL has expanded into raffles for some time now and they are now held on our community page at www.facebook.com/GpGQueen I worked so hard to rebuild myself up after being torn down. I know abuse of all shapes and sizes and all I want for the world is for every piece of #Glitter you see from us to represent a little love from up above. I have a saying: You are treasured, You are valued, You are LOVED and you ARE! I want every single person that I meet to feel encouraged, affirmed and edified after leaving my presence. Am I perfect, No, but neither are you.  We are a work in progress but I do strive and aim to leave positive emotional wakes. I am about brightening up your life; just because I can. Maybe it's the former preschool teacher in me or the fact that I have 2 children who have captured my heart forever (one with #autism) but as a Mother my heart is HUGE! Let us shower you with Love aka #GLITTERYcheer and we would be more than happy to send you something if you would go to the contact page and complete the information tab. Keep in mind we are battling incurable illness so please be patient - SMILE!

​If you have read this blog then thank you because it is my heart on paper. I wish for you to take away these things:
​1: You are treasured, You are valued and You are LOVED
​2: You are enough
​3: Start speaking 3 positives over yourself every day because you deserve to be happy starting right now

​Thank you to my entire team of #GlitterQueens. We are here because of YOU and all of our supporters. There is much coming down the pipeline including an introduction of a new branch and our corporate umbrella.
​Humbly Yours,
​The Glitter Queen

​#TogetherweFIGHTTogetherweWIN  #CureGP
​#5millionGPStrong #Unite4GP #TakeABite4GP 
#CoachingfortheChronicallyFabulous
​#BeTruetoYou #FreeLife