Growing up, I believed in infinite possibilities. I wished on stars and let my imagination prepare me for the unknown. The older you get the more you realize that you have power. You have been given the free will to control your own path. Jump into your destiny feet first. And I knew for certain that no matter how much power I had, time was a luxury that would never be mine.

Unlike my mother and father, who were happy to live out their days on a Native American reservation in Colorado, I wanted to explore, to experience the many splendors the world could provide...before it was too late.

I couldn't avoid the siren's call of the big, wide-open world.

What I didn't know was my life would be filled with challenges, highs, and lows the likes I couldn't have prepared for. I have many bittersweet memories and even more where the sweet outweighs the bitter. Despite it all, I wouldn't change a thing.

My experiences, my choices, have led me to where I am. Helped form the woman I've become.

A wife.

A mother.

A woman at peace with her destiny.

My journey has been rife with uncertainty, joy, fear, love, hate, strife, sacrifice, and everything in between. I've experienced unbelievable pleasure and gut-wrenching pain. Some may despise me for the choices I've made. Some may applaud them. Either way, I lived for today.

My name is Catori...and this is my story.