About the Author  Who is she? She is an individual, a professional, a colleague, a mom, a sister, an aunt, a grandmother, and a friend. Alfrieda Hylton is an African American native born in Washington, DC and raised in a small town called Dumfries, Virginia. Both of her parents are deceased. She is the third oldest of nine children and eight of them are still living. She has been married twice and divorced twice and has four sons.   God had a plan for her to find her way back to Him! In 2008, God inspired her to write poetry about her life-learning lessons, challenges, setbacks, and heartaches that she experienced and suppressed for many years. Her very essence of being is to inspire and be a blessing to others through her poetry; because we so often hold back our bad experiences and don’t resolve the very things that haunt us. Those devastating scars etched into memories known as: anger, resentment, guilt, shame, abuse, addiction, and fear requires intensive care and healing to defeat, forgive, and put behind you.   However, timing and change was the foundation in her life that navigated her through the challenges and obstacles without any difficulties. The amazing thing, happiness kept her delightful, trials kept her strong, sorrows kept her human, failures kept her humble, success kept her glowing, and God kept her going to win the good fight victoriously. She is more special than any of you can imagine! Down deep, you may sense it, too! One of her famous quote’s by Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they are supposed to help you discover who you are."