For Giles. . .

This is a hard post to write, mainly because it's hard to encapsulate how much you have meant and do mean to me in one tiny blog. How do I even describe the role you have played, mainly because you've played so many. You've been therapist and counselor, friend and mentor and now Father. You mean different things to different parts but the main result is the same, we all are so very blessed to have you in our lives. It was almost ten years ago when I first walked into your office, I had no hope for any future and things looked so bleak. I wasn't sure about being there at all, or if the meeting would change anything. I wasn't sure what good it could do, but when I walked out I had a little hope. Just a little, enough to hang on just a bit longer, enough to go back. I can't put my finger on exactly what gave me hope but maybe it was the fact that you saw me, I wasn't a case but a person. Over the years you have taken time to see me, to understand me and to help me to understand and see myself. You took the time to help me to figure out what exactly was going on with me and inside me so that I was able to emerge from what was keeping me bound up and be free. You fought for me, fought to get me well, fought to free me. That has meant the world to me. You've taught me so much about life, about how to be a better person, how to be a better parent, how to be a better wife. You've also allowed me to come clean about who I really am and not to hide. There is so much freedom in being yourself and living your truth and you have enabled me to do that. I am so grateful for all these things. You are an amazing person, full of compassion and empathy. God has wired and gifted you in a miraculous way that you can see and help the wounded ones so that they can walk in freedom. You are so wise in all your affairs and because of this wisdom you continue to teach me, and to be able to help others to become better people. I am blessed because you took the time to see who I am, I am blessed because you understood my pain and helped me to heal from it, I am blessed because you took the time to get to know all of us, I am blessed because you took me into your family, I am blessed because you love me and I have you in my life. So thank-you for everything, everything I have said, and for that large part that I can't even find the right words for. Thank-you for saving my life because you know you really did and that's not just words that's the truth.