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So, it's hard to know what to write about my weekend with Oprah. I think I'm still processing . . . If I just had two words, I would say Life Changing. I came away with a few lessons that I trust will stay with me always. One biggie is about forgiveness and another is that Life is a gift and should be treated that way - not thrown away. I've spent the last few years since my husband left, hating him and what he did to us and feeling like I was just waiting out the rest of my life, frankly. Well, that is done now. The saying, Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die, pretty much described my state of mind but I just couldn't seem to shake it. All done. Consider it shaken. I forgive myself. I forgive everyone. I surrender. And that is what I will continue to work on and tell myself until it is the absolute truth. Here are some pictures:

The event took place in the American Airlines Arena and Museum Park next door, in Miami.

The view from the arena

This is what the stage looked like when I got there on Friday night. 

And this is what it looked like right before Oprah came on. All of a sudden the lights went down and everyone's wristband lit up. It was like thousands of stars appearing all of a sudden. The crowd went wild. Later on we found that the bands would change colors, usually when a new person came on stage. V. cool.

And this is what it looked like when Oprah was on stage. Here she is talking about a tree in her backyard. She is wearing a long yellow gown. As you can see I didn't have the VIP seats on the floor but I wasn't in the nosebleed section either.

Saturday was more casual. We got our workbooks on the way in to the arena and got to work with Oprah and then with Deepak Chopra, Elizabeth Gilbert, Rob Bell and Ivanla Vanzant. I'll tell you, I wasn't crying that day but my eyes were leaking the whole time, tears running down my face as I finally heard a lot of truths I hadn't wanted to face. 

Don't know that it was anything in particular that touched me so deeply - so many amazing insightful words from people I've admired for years - and the collective consciousness of the group in that arena had something to do with it. To start off Saturday, Deepak did a guided meditation. There were 13,000 people there and you could have heard a pin drop. Nobody even coughed. Gives me chills just thinking about it. 

Rob Bell puts Life in perspective

During lunch break, I took a walk over to Bayfront, another vibrant example of life in Miami.

Oprah closed the day with this poem by Derek Walcott.

***

Love After Love

The time will come 

when, with elation

you will greet your self arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookkshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

***

When I left the arena and was driving toward the highway, my wristband turned pink and stayed on for a full minute.