You inspire me...

Hey girls :) 

This month, as soon as I saw the challenge over at Once Upon A Sketch and this beautiful sketch

I knew what I wanted to say with my layout. There are many people that inspire me every day but there is only one that is with me for more than 35 years, constantly inspiring... 

My love for books started at a very young age... anyways, the journaling which I started writing on the tags, took almost all the back of the layout to finish... I wanted to say so much... it reads: 

"My oldest friend... you keep inspiring me after so many years of being together. We met when I was so young, remember the day I opened a present and there you were? I am ashamed to remember the pout on my face when I saw you... you were not a usual gift for a little girl, especially then, especially in my family of farmers, especially in rural Greece of the 1970's.  I now know that the present  was a very wise choice, the person who gave it to me had the same need for refuge.. she might 've been much older than me but she grew up with the same difficulties. And she knew... 

Reluctantly I gave you a chance... and then the magic happened... You were my silence when the shouting around me was unbearable... You were my laughter when I wanted to cry... You were my tears when I needed to let them go... You were the only one I reached for when the pain was too much... and you were always there... never disappointed me. 

You introduced me to friends, to characters that I still love... you showed me places and other parts of the world, in the future, present and past... You were my serenity when everything was going wrong and as a child I kept looking at you for refuge, in fact I still do sometimes, although I have many people that love and support me in my life... You are a big part of myself and of what I am today... you inspired me to be stronger, to look up and hope... it didn't matter that your characters were not real, for me they were, they fought for what they believed in, for what they deserved, for the things they wanted, for the love they wanted, they were brave, they overcame obstacles, they laughed at themselves, they helped others, they fell madly in love, they loved deeply, they wanted to be happy, they lived in the moment, they always won at the end (well, most of the times... )

For all the inspiration for greatness, thank you. I may have not reached it yet, but I have come a long, long way from that frightened little girl who used to fall asleep with you in her arms.
You are still with me in this journey and you will always be my friend....
always... "

Thank you for visiting ladies