Love

The beautiful strength in remembering

This may look like a simple stack of cards, but it’s certainly not.

Inside these envelopes are stories. They’re filled with memories and words of love and longing from the hearts of women at our Coco Vida Girls Night Out last Thursday night. I spread them out like this on Friday morning in pure awe, and I haven’t touched them since. I’m still discerning what to do with them.

When we first decided to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, I didn’t fully realize the extent to which it needed to be a night of remembrance.

But as the planning developed, it became clear that it needed to be a night we ventured beyond the comfortable condolences of “I’m sorry for your loss” to sharing warm, specific memories of the ones we’ve loved and lost. It needed to be a night we could bear witness to the lives of those who’ve stayed with us …

I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve learned since starting HeartStories in 2012 (officially 2013). I was in it for what I could do to help others, but sitting here, looking back, it’s been almost seven years of the most intense season of growth of my life. And I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon. I live in a constant state of walking in the unknown.

Nothing is sure to work.

Every risky choice I make is made from layers of experience, seeking wise counsel, praying earnestly, and then simply deciding it’s worth it to jump. Merely choosing to do the next right thing. Sometimes that process turns out beautifully, even better than I could have hoped. But it also often leads to painful lessons, challenges, and struggles I didn’t see coming. IT’s the essence of the John Ortberg quote that you’ve surely heard me say a million times. I still …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Our Story Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

One quick glance at this image instantly spreads a smile across my face. It’s from our “fireside chat” time at last month’s girls night out. Brooklyn was clearly telling one of her hilarious “Brooklyn” stories, the way only she can. Meanwhile, Sally and I are smiling those “Oh my gosh, is she really about to say this right now?” smiles. I love it because I couldn’t possibly tell you which story she was telling. Brooklyn tells wild, colorful stories. She pulls you in with details, suspense, and surprises at every turn.

What I love most is her determination to keep moving forward, despite the fear.

The stories Sally and Brooklyn shared that night were full of moments when they could have allowed fear to hold them back. They could have listened to their fears. They could have allowed the fears of others to be the guardrails that “kept them safe”. But instead, …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

There’s something about summertime that brings out an extra dose of wild sibling shenanigans around our house. It’s the combination of all the extra quality time together, the lack of a structured schedule, and a diet that consists of “whatever we can find around here”. It’s midday nerf wars and late night movies. I remember the days like the ones in this picture when they were smaller and they thought it would be fun to try to learn to braid mom’s hair. I tried to sit back and enjoy it, even though I think I lost half my head of hair. These days, it’s trying to teach mom to shoot her nerf gun correctly and how, at a minimum, to stand up and run away while trying to learn to play Fortnite.

Summertime around our house has been completely different this year.

I used to keep their summer schedules completely full. They’d …

by Crystal Gornto Love In Action Loving Others Motherhood Priorities Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

This is Shakari, she was a fangirl for a minute. We met last week while I conducting our first “official” site visit at the new Cut! by Cinemark movie theater, where we’re hosting the Chick Flick GNO. We were there measuring all the spaces, talking to all the people, and of course, taking all the pictures. As soon as we finished a quick video, we noticed Shakari taking our picture like she thought I was someone famous. Instantly seeing what was going on, Vanessa offered to take a photo of us together.

I ran back behind the bar, hugged her, and we had a good laugh before Vanessa snapped this photo.

Shakari is awesome, and I hope she ends up working our event with us. She instigated a good moment for me because we’ve been having a lot of internal conversations of late, about me stepping out to be more “the face” …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life 2 comments chat

When I was a little girl, this beautiful woman took care of me so well and so often that it’s hard to believe she even speaks to me at all. Seriously. She is the oldest of 4 girls in our family, which made her the built-in babysitter. We all already know that I was more than a handful growing up, so she put in many of her hours towards sainthood in those years.

And as well as I remember it, she did it all with a knowing, loving smile, just like this one.

Well, maybe except that one time, when Mom and Dad told her as they were leaving to make me eat my entire bowl of cantaloupe. She did what they asked because she was always good like that, but it didn’t work out very well for either one of us. Let’s just say I haven’t eaten a bite of cantaloupe …

by Crystal Gornto Community Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love in Family Love in Friendship The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

The beautiful strength in remembering

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Keep believing

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The only tiny bit that matters

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Just me, just you

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Her love is sweet

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Share the Love!

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Share the Love!

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Share the Love!

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Share the Love!

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Share the Love!

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Share the Love!

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