Do what you feel in your heart to be right.
You’ll be criticized anyway.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

‘How true.’ Thought Carrie, as she closed the book and removed her glasses. Sinking back into her favourite chair she closed her eyes and relaxed. The fire crackled and the room was warm and cosy. It had been a long day.

If truth were told, it was a long day at the end of a very long year. The year when she had finally decided to follow her heart. It was time to act for herself. Face the truth. A life alone was not for her, not her choice, she was wasting her skills and all the love she had to share. Living alone meant she was becoming selfish with her time and space. Many times during the past months she felt like she was jumping off a cliff and building her wings on the way down. She knew that sharing the news of her decision would not be a piece of cake.

The wall of negativity that met her was a total shock. Anyone would think she had lost her marbles altogether. The tarnished silver frame round the dulled cracked oil painting that was her face these days, was what they saw. What they wanted to see. An old girl who would sit out the remainder of her time with gentle pursuits and be available at the beck and call of family & friends to baby, animal or house-sit when needed, and then be returned to the faded old memory box of their combined past.

At sixty five she was a long way from the scrap heap. The inner fire still matched the sparkle in her eyes, There was room for pleasure, excitement and fun, as the unexpected meeting a couple of years ago proved. Friendship blossomed & deepened and each meeting made the bond stronger and all the more difficult when the time for each parting came.

No more. Carrie was now at the cliff edge. Ready to make that jump.

In the morning she would collect the young family of four children she had decided and was cleared to Foster. A whole new life was beginning….

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It was my turn to provide a topic for the Loose Bloggers Consortium and I chose Risk. Now take a risk and check out the other active members: Delirious, Maxi, Maria/Gaelikaa, Maria SilverFox, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, Shackman speaks, The Old Fossil, Will Knott.