Rose

The youngest girl of five in what she remembers as a loving family before the Iron Fist reared its ugly head, Rose never saw herself as strong or a fighter.  Even though her father had once told her:  "A rose is delicate and beautiful, but when not handled with care will make you bleed," she has always relied on her big brother.  When the world falls apart he keeps her safe, does his best to teach her how to survive.  However when he is taken by the Iron Fist, she learns more than she expected.   Her struggles happen on so many levels throughout the story and has to deal with it while living among  a people who don't want her among them.

Writing Rose was empowering to me at the time.  My focus was driven by the energy that she discovers is inside her along with the last couple of chapters that were vivid in my mind.   The energy she unexpectedly finds opens her mind to hope just as quickly as the world continuously tries to remove it from her.  Even in this light at the end of the tunnel (so to speak), it teeters between good and bad.  The Syntai meditation is very similar to Tai Chi, but at a level more intense than I had/have achieved.   From the first day I began my practice of Tai Chi, my mind was opened to the flow of energy, and as I continued to learn and practice (seriously practice), I found serenity and fell in love with the flow of energy, which allowed me to write the Syntai meditation. I had not started training in martial arts yet, but from my Tai Chi experience and talking with martial arts students who came through my Tai Chi classes, it wasn't hard for me to see how powerful that energy could be.

Now, I have never endured the physical pains that Rose does (obviously), but looking back, mentally I was right along with her.  I suppose writing her story, her growth into a strength she wasn't aware of, and the mental strength that she has to re-find throughout the story reminded me on a subconscious level that even when it seems the punches never stop coming, you still keep getting up and you keep fighting.   At the time of writing this I did not see myself in the story at all, and honestly, it wasn't until the last couple of times that I read it did I begin to catch glimpses of me.   Maybe that's why I loved this story so much from the moment I wrote it, and why I still really enjoy it...  because to me it's still a story about a hope.