Not a beautiful house... an ugly house, indeed.

I have been missing my blog and you all very much... It has been two weeks (I think!?) since I posted here for the last time. I don't think I have mentioned here before but I went back to school in my thirties to pursue a dream. Anyway, taking classes in the summer is keeping me busy. Going back to school as an adult student can be a challenge sometimes. You have other responsibilities, and conciliating  everything is very difficult. Anyway, I won't give up my dreams. I have this strong desire to have a meaningful profession. Something that gives me the right tools so I can help others to have a better life. I believe formal education is the way for me to get there... so I keep taking my classes even if sometimes I just wish I had time to finish my projects around the house. On the other hand, I know there are things more important in life than a pretty room... not that making a room pretty isn't important. I love decor and I love pretty rooms. :-) But sometimes you need to know your priorities...

Today I wish I had a picture of a pretty room to share with you. Unfortunately, I do not. I have a photo of an ugly house. I took this picture with my cell phone this Saturday when I was driving around Cleveland with my husband. What makes this house ugly is not the boarded up windows... or the unkept appearance of the house. What makes this house ugly is what happened there... Sadly, not every house is a home full of beautiful memories...

This house is located at 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. That's the place where Ariel Castro  lived. He is accused of keeping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight bound in ropes and chains for a decade or so in this house. They were constantly raped, abused...

Just stopping there and looking at that house for a few minutes made me deeply sad... and uncomfortable. You feel uncomfortable when horrible things happened not too far from you geographically. In that house, the lives of those girls were almost completetly  destroyed. You start asking yourself why that happened but you have no answers. I still think people are the most important "thing" on this earth. I just don't understand why some of them can be so evil.

I feel deeply sorry for those girls. Their life was stolen from them. They had their dreams broken. I am a strong believer that you can always change your life for better if you want to do so.   However, I know it can be extremely difficult to overcome such traumas. I truly hope they have the necessary help to start over... to rebuild their life... to reconstruct their dreams.

My heart and prayers are with them and their families.