For the First Time in a Long Time…

Chapter 21 2003

How can I begin to explain how a touch of returned freedom, long absent from my life,

lifted me from dark to light. With just a few hours that the TDU gave me, I began to see

clearly there was absolute hope and solid proof I could escape the trauma of what had

happened to me.

For the first time in a long time I could make plans, form goals, and embrace everything

around me, embrace me. For the first time in a long time I could cry with joy and not in

fear.

For the first time in a long time I could look at myself in a mirror and smile. I could raise

my eyes to the sky to feel the touch of sun on my face and let it surround me with warmth.

I looked upon prairies and walked through woods smelling, hearing, and feeling the return

of comfort this created in me, if only for a few hours.

I felt my relationship changing with a world taken and hidden from me to a connection of

it being right there in front of me, brilliantly clear. All I hadn’t spent time with before was

emerging as an amazing part of everything around me, I felt it. Everything began to mean

more, it still does.

For the first time in a long time I could dance freely without falling down.

And dance I did.

About Cheryl Schiltz Photography

Thank you for visiting, I hope you are enjoying my photography. I've happily been a photographer for over 25 years making it a passion of mine. My work has been inspired by places near and far, those I never thought I'd visit and by the work of others I so very much respect from whom I've learned so much. The vibrant colors of the outdoors take me home and when they stand still just long enough for me to admire and capture them in landscapes, forests, flowers, all things our beautiful world holds, I find myself complete. I hope you enjoy my work and give my page a like. I'd love to see you here.

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