As Tolstoy wrote in one of the most famous opening lines of any novel: “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
However, what if families that are never really families at all, that are only the result of unintended, even unwanted, consequences. Those un-families that become like bloomed dandelion seeds simply blowing about in every random breeze, to search for roots in any possible place. Unwanted guests in what otherwise may be seeming well-ordered and conventional lawns and gardens of society. This is a true fable of just such a dandelion seed. One who not only found her roots and survived, but who seemingly magically transformed herself from an unwanted weed into a majestic sunflower; rooted, resilient, and radiant to all those who encounter her. That dandelion turned sunflower is named Carlotta.
As you revisit your past, know that no matter what happened, your simply being here, alive, makes you worthy. And know that there is hope...Wellness is possible, it happens one moment, one step, at a time. --Oprah
This blog is Carlotta’s story, a story of overcoming and finding joy despite very difficult, if not impossible, circumstances. This is a journey that she invites you to take with her, in hopes of you finding strength and joy in your story.
This is a written story that has been more than 30 years in production, actually, it encompasses a lifetime, but for over 30 years, the narrator/investigator has unsuccessfully persuaded Carlotta to allow it to be told. It is because of Carlotta’s work in EPT (Emotional Polarity Technique) that she has now embraced its public telling. An incredible biographical arch reaches from life-long foster care child. She was separated from biological mother at about four months. Separation from fraternal twin sister and all biological siblings, placement into a poor and abusive foster family relationship. These events led to a unique adoption at nineteen, college graduation, dedicated wife, mother, and educator, awarded outstanding educator, Doctorate in Adult, Community,, and Higher Education, Dean of Teacher Graduate Education , emotional wellness coach, and EPT practitioner. For all practical purposes, and by statistical evidence, none of the later part of this arch should have occurred; it should be a completely different story. How is this so?
This story is an epic tragedy inverted which gives it its unique narrative flow. It is a social crime story in which the victim survives and overcomes against all odds and reason, and without vindictiveness...surely a modern miracle.
This is the raw data.
A mystery translates it into feeling and perception; then imagination; finally the hard inevitable quartz figure of will And language
A poem by Carl Rakosi
Quoted in an essay, Resurrection, by Paul Auster
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