My name is Sunshine. I was born to a hippie in a commune, when my mother died she made a friend promise to take me to her mother's home and ask her to finish raising me.
So I was only three years old when I came to live with my nana and granpapa.
Today I am graduating from collage with a whole bunch of letters after my weird name. I guess this is the only way I thought I would get respect with a name like Sunshine. After today I will finally be starting a new life of my own.
I've been thinking about how many new beginnings I have had, first I was born in a commune then I went to live with my grandparents then I started collage going for a degree in liberal arts then I met a new friend who introduced me to comparative religion class. That got me to thinking about my life and what meaning it had, my Nana was a Catholic so I was sort of raised in a traditional way, but I guess my mother's influence kicked in and I decided to explore other options.
A Wicca group studied on campus every Tuesday night and I was soon going to every group and celebration I really loved the feeling of being in harmony with nature and wanted the full experience. So I set up an altar in my apartment. I was trying to find a household protector and kept looking for just the right statue to put on my alter to represent that aspect.
I was unpacking a box one day that I had been too busy to unpack before now even though I had been living in my apartment now for a year and found some things I had totally forgotten about.
When Twilight the movie came out I went to see it with my friends and fell in love with it I went right out and bought all the books and read them over and over. Then the second movie came out and I went to see it every week until it stopped showing in theaters. When the DVD was released I was at the midnight release and got it with a few other things as gifts from the store with it.
One of the gifts was a sheet of cards with all the characters from the movie on it. I was sitting there drooling over it when I decided to cut out Edwards picture and put it in a pretty little frame I had and put it on a shelf in my alters' room as a household protector. I thought who else could represent protection better than an immortal with super strength and abilities. Then I thought Jasper, who trained them all to fight off the newborns was also a good choice so I cut him out also and put him on a shelf also. Well Emmitt was next, with Rosalie. They were all protectors, and I started to cut out the picture of Alice and thought she was more than a protector, she was a representation of seeing with the third eye so I put her on my alter to represent visions. I picked up the picture of Esme and thought if all the kids were representing things what might she represent? Then I realized she was perfect to represent the Goddess, and I added her to the alter. Then I picked up the picture of Carlisle and it came to me he was a perfect representation of a healer, so onto the shelf he went then I realized he was so much more than just a healer he was a father figure and a perfect representation of a God! One picture left, Bella…..hmmm, she started out as a human then she changed to a vampire, so like me she went through a huge life change. So now I had a picture to put on my alter to represent new beginnings.
So there on my alter was pictures to represent God, the Goddess, visions, an angel of virtue, Edward, an angel of empathy, Jasper, an angel of honesty, Emmitt, an angel of loyalty, Rosalie, and finally an angel of new beginnings, Bella. My candles, flowers, incense, herbs, and oils, with my pictures all made my alter an expression of my inner self so much so that I went to bed that night with a smile on my lips. I dreamt that night , Esme and Carlisle came to me and told me how honored they were that I put their family on my alter and they were proud to be a part of my life.
When I woke up in the morning I was so happy, I felt complete and ready to face life and anything it threw at me. Four years went by and now I am graduating as a teacher to help young ones to get a start in a life balanced and firmly rooted in family, worship, and love.