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    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/the-only-way-out-of-the-swamp-is-to-go-through-it-swamps-part-1</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-05-25</lastmod>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1721074976567-90FCJX1DSKVYP2MNR0BI/only+way+out+of+the+swamp.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The Only Way Out of the Swamp is to Go Through it - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/44a2f347-c86d-42a8-b125-806a9c3b3bc8/Reading+with++magnifier.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The Only Way Out of the Swamp is to Go Through it</image:title>
      <image:caption>I would grieve, adapt to my new normal, and find solutions like audiobooks and strong magnifiers to keep reading. It was cumbersome, but they worked. It not only took determination, but I also leaned on my sense of humor when I tripped over unexpected twigs that were hidden in the muck.  For instance, I learned to triple check before entering a public restroom.  Whenever I mistakenly walked into the wrong one, my face would turn red as the surprised patrons were probably uncomfortable.  But as I turned around I would giggle, because I</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The Only Way Out of the Swamp is to Go Through it</image:title>
      <image:caption>directions and vocation, I was wary of moving forward. For instance, as I thought about going to graduate school, I wondered if the frogs and alligators in the swamp would just be too much.  Instead, I learned to wear my muddy shoes to class, and they actually helped me. I integrated my own swampy conception of disability theology into my Master of Divinity courses, which, to my surprise, earned me several graduate school awards!</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/74ea496c-c6fc-4b87-9123-a1e92c073461/Blocked+in+again+in+the+swap.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The Only Way Out of the Swamp is to Go Through it</image:title>
      <image:caption>I recognized that I needed to risk losing my way in order to find it.  To really get healthy, I made the decision to leave the job I loved, and instead of moving through the swamp, slogging my way step by step, perhaps this part of the journey needed to be done differently.  Instead of heading straight for the other side of the swamp, I needed to move slowly, adding depth ad detail to my map.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The Only Way Out of the Swamp is to Go Through it - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/how-to-fall-in-love-wit-a-swamp-monster-r3z25-mi2JV</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-05-25</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1721759206111-8NLFLXNAUKAQULR7HJB3/Malevolet+Maria.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/e9e2a450-61f0-4266-a7d0-cd174cc5001f/ICU+waiting+room.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster</image:title>
      <image:caption>serious illness in a hospital, or if you are a resident doctor doing your first unit in the ICU, or even if you are a dedicated, compassionate nurse with 20 years of experience, you never know what might be lurking around the corner. The waiting rooms can feel oppressively foggy, the air so thick you cannot breathe as you deliver or hear difficult news. All of a sudden family disagreements that were settled long ago rear their ugly heads. Everyone believes they are speaking kindly and</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/7957fad8-0e0a-484b-bb03-700005557057/Steven.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster</image:title>
      <image:caption>Every class has its "troublemaker," and it was my first year as a teacher, so I was particularly vulnerable to these swamp monsters that relished inflicting pain and humiliation on authority figures. In my third period ninth grade English class, his name was Steven. He was the obnoxious, loudmouthed troublemaker who consistently disrupted our lessons with snarky comments, often at my expense. I did what most teachers would: I sent him to the principal, and he sauntered out,</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/9f2263f6-a585-4553-9779-64f75397776a/Pencil+pic.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster</image:title>
      <image:caption>(This piece of the puzzle clicked into place many years later, when I realized my quiet rule-following daughter seemed to always be placed near Ian or Ahmad in elementary school. On desk clean out days, since her desk was always immaculate, she would help these sweet, overwhelmed boys get their lives in order. Sometimes the teachers would ask her, but often she would come home and tell me that Ahmad’s desk was so</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/a963161e-d664-4fd6-9ed5-4bd228281283/Nurses.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster - For example, I once used my Steven lesson when I was asked to help a hospital unit which was consistently getting poor reviews on the hospital patient satisfaction survey. I knew many of theprofessionals on that unit as lovely, dedicated professionals, so I was a bit confused. One thing I suggested was for everyone to learn one new fact about each patient they encountered that day. Not a medical fact, but something as simple as a favorite color, sports team, or where they were born. Then they were to pass it on not only to</image:title>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster</image:title>
      <image:caption>done. The menacing beast halted and took a step back, allowing me to breathe again, although I got a closer look at the terrifying snakes writhing in her crown. I squeezed my eyes shut, avoiding her craggy claws coming toward me. As I waited for the impending strike that would end me, it never came. She paused, and asked out loud whether she was using the right conditioner. When I opened my eyes, she was pacing as she spoke, and I slipped by her, unnoticed.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster</image:title>
      <image:caption>first time, a sturdy bridge that would lead me straight home. As I gave her a hug and said goodbye, I asked her if the bridge had always been there. She looked at me quizzically and said, "Why, of course, I thought everybody knew about that." Then she shivered a little and added, "But who would ever want to go there? Who knows what you will find on the other side?" And as I walked home, I pondered her words in my heart.</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/ac0836bd-ba3d-42d8-862d-bd6ccc078ee1/moon+tesxt+size.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - How to Fall in Love with a Swamp Monster - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/what-to-do-with-why-swamps-part-3</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-05-25</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1721834843016-6BUL35RGJJZ921SM8I05/MOMMA+WITH+KITTENS.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/c456c5ec-bac1-4ae1-9f62-bf926690a00f/Better+hands.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - plagued clerics and philosophers for generations. Libraries are filled with a plethora of perspectives from every corner of the earth, and bookstores full of self-help guides that endeavored to banish them with the magic of words. Those who claim to possess answers of great power often write eloquently, constructing ivory towers of wisdom. Yet, their treatises and tomes prove futile when needed most. When a weary swamp traveler reaches into their pocket for the weapon of words, it emerges wet and sodden, encrusted with mud, the pages rendered limp and fragmented, a far cry from the potent grenades they had hoped would forever vanquish these enemies.</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/c2c99fb3-a0a6-4af4-86bb-a1d1c8303ca0/angle+nurse.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - at the bottom of your bed, the prayer shawl your friend knitted for you. I see God in the petals of those flowers brought to your bedside by someone who loves you. I see God in your son, who isn't here because he's preparing his home to be by your side, no matter what comes next." I swear to you, at that exact moment the nurse rushed in with the long-awaited pain relief. The patient looked at me with a rueful smile and laughed, "Here’s an angel! Definitely God!"</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/8157b05b-5fab-4726-a9fb-ffab2a7e7c5e/puffy+kittens.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - down to see small puffs of smoke circling my legs above the water. The other traveler seemed to have these puffs around him as well. I reached down cautiously to touch the foggy smoke and realized it was solid. Warm and silky, not slimy, I picked one up and held it in front of me. I was left speechless, for I was holding a... kitten? I brought it closer, feeling its soft purr against my cheek, this was certainly no monster, but also no weapon. I</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/fec928b0-f0a5-46f2-863c-aed51eaa7afe/hands.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - for others. I told them that even though they did  not ask, I wanted to share that I saw God in that moment, not only in the strangers who  nourished and sustained them but more prominently, I said "right here," as I pointed to their joined hands.for others. I told them that even though they did  not ask, I wanted to share that I saw God As the son squeezed his girlfriend's hand and gazed into her eyes, he said, "Yeah, I think you are right. It's weird, even in the middle of this mess, for the</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/bd9fc7fd-f16b-4bc1-a446-21831bb3149f/Cat+in+window.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY? - I sat with him, looking out the window on a gloomy day, the glass was covered in rain drops.  In many places, they came together to form rivers streaking down the pane.  As we sat together, listening to the ventilator's rhythm, I touched his Bible.  My fingers tingled ever so slightly as they brushed the smooth, soft, worn leather of its cover.  I quietly began, “There's a verse in here that says, 'Jesus wept.'” He nodded and I continued, “When I look out the window, all I can see are tears. I can't</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/9446b8de-d176-46b0-9e7b-4a9bd9c395e9/babies+and+kittens.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - What to Do With WHY?</image:title>
      <image:caption>CHOCOLATE, and LAUGHTER (three of my favorites.)  SONG is probably one of the sweetest when she shows up in the grocery store, shopping mall, or randomly on your phone when you didn’t choose her.  Perhaps because they have a special connection due to their infancy, any kind of baby is often full of HERE’s magic. Human babies often channel the kitten named GIGGLES and the one called FINALLY SLEEPING SOUNDLY.</image:caption>
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  <url>
    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/the-sea-of-shame-swamps-part-4</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-05-25</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1721763740075-CJM8PR0T3WSCPUFU552F/map+os+sea.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/2a79832f-7e0f-4b21-b045-45e0df9dea71/woman+running+in+distance.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - But the woman glanced back at me with pure panic in her eyes and then appeared to push herself even faster.  I tried to follow, but my feet were stuck in the mud deeper than I had realized. I was completely trapped. Terror overcame me as I thrashed about, attempting to break free, but each wild move only seemed to sink me deeper and hold me tighter.</image:title>
      <image:caption>Only mere moments before, I had suddenly found myself back again in</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/5d092a3f-28b3-4913-913a-fd6313ab6376/woman+in+terror+.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - As she felt my touch, she turned around, and I watched in shock as her face turned white with terror. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she spun around and began to move like she was shot out of a cannon in the opposite direction.  I stood there, miserably mired, and filled with dread. A sense of confused hopelessness washed over me. The fog enveloped her, and I could no longer even hear her splashing footsteps.</image:title>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - "What?" I protested. "What are you talking about?" He took my hand and raised it so I could see it, now misshapen and grotesque, with long talons where my fingers used to be.  I screamed in horror. He spoke in a slow, low, and calm voice, as if coaxing a frightened child out of hiding. He softly pushed my hand down, so it was blissfully out of sight, and began to explain. "Most of the swamp is filled with creatures you must avoid, making it</image:title>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep</image:title>
      <image:caption>He continued, "Hitler never challenged himself to visit the Sea of Shame, and R Kelly? No way! Social media influencers tend to be too busy getting that perfect selfie while hanging off the cliff, holding their baby, and making sure the sponsor's product is prominently featured. Not a peep out of most of them in these parts. I mean taking the perfect picture is hard enough, so why not take advantage of those special filters that disguise complicity, appropriation, racism, ableism, pretty</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/5710e53d-3a69-44eb-8e0c-5d630ba5fb69/mean+man+and+mom.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - The day my swamp companion was referring to, my baby, my toddler, and my oldest, who just started elementary school, were walking home with me from the grocery store. Unfortunately, I purchased too many items to carry home in the double stroller and was juggling bags on my arms while pushing the stroller and keeping an eye on my 6-year-old. I swear I didn't see the car that honked loudly and swerved to miss hitting us. The driver yelled  obscenities at me as he drove away, which I didn't</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/68b3ed96-b91a-4390-bee2-658d4cb089fd/oppenheimer+.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - "No," he shook his head ruefully, "I was asking what you thought in order to evaluate your SDRI. That’s the Shame and Denial/Remembering Index. Scientists in the late 1940s developed it while they were here.  You know, Oppenheimer and the gang. They found shame inversely correlates with the ability to retain lessons, hindering one from applying them to new situations. Your SDRI surpasses 1,000, while 556-732 is deemed normal," he explained. I was no longer listening. Surveying the</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/ca222cab-6c65-4da6-835c-a2913bc8e548/limo.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep - “I can tell you’ve got a group in the back.  So let’s just give my friend here a few more minutes.”  He stepped forward and said, softly, “It’s Sharon.” She nodded her head, rolled up the window, and set off. While there was actually no longer any sound, I felt I could still hear the singing, long after they were out of sight. I reflected on that forced merriment being used to drown out all potential for vulnerable conversation.</image:title>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/82e621ef-7b0c-4f8a-95a9-9970febe7e05/FFinal+shame.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - The  Challenger Deep</image:title>
      <image:caption>I started to giggle, and then grew to  a full belly laugh. Joe looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “Well at least that part only took me a few minutes this time,” I whispered.  “Remember that time we took the limo back together and…” I saw his grin start to droop a little, for him, I knew from experience this was a good sign! “Got your back buddy,” I patted him on the shoulder, and then stood very still as I continued to reflect on the series of events that had brought me here.  I knew I could do</image:caption>
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  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/https/wwwsparkserenitybysharoncom/blog-page-url/new-post-title</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-05-25</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/16d5b49c-03cc-4e32-a081-d21f13eba451/Wave+droplet.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - Alone In a Crowd</image:title>
      <image:caption>Which one of the poems below resonates with you the most? Would you have ever picked a different one?</image:caption>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1716826256183-KHTLBGK3JJL2IXWFD8KW/Eternal+Summer.JPG</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - Alone In a Crowd - Eternal Summer by Donn C. Winner</image:title>
      <image:caption>The sunset sets the stage For all eternity For earth and sky And children yet to come</image:caption>
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  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.sparkserenitybysharon.com/blogposts/https/wwwsparkserenitybysharoncom/blog-page-url/new-post-title-1</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
    <lastmod>2025-04-14</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/1737151700236-67TMMKCQCEPQE90OAXYE/muddy+big+cats.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
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      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65bd37ae414a501eaa18b34c/32276c7e-effd-44ce-83f9-cd1185805343/a+hand+out+of+water.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - had been, thinking I could engineer an emotional safety net—a reserve of resilience to contain what was bound to overflow. I frantically piled up makeshift “sandbags” of empty compliments I had always hidden behind, pretending to be humble. I threw out desperate words like “faithful” and “courageous” and “inspiring,” but they were laughable, quickly swallowed by the surge. My sobs ran so deep that I couldn’t catch my breath, my diaphragm trapped in a tight, unyielding vise.</image:title>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware)</image:title>
      <image:caption>With every ounce of strength, I limped forward, my rage bubbling over. “FUCK YOU, HERE!” I screamed, the words torn from me like shrapnel. No kitten could have soothed me then; if one had dared to show up, I would have kicked it. dared to show up, I would have kicked it.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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      <image:title>Stories to Spark Healing Conversation - HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE (Kittens Beware) - Make it stand out</image:title>
      <image:caption>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.</image:caption>
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