Hello Beautiful Being, What follows is a very real story of  my life up until I found spirituality and mysticism. It details my experience growing up in a "religious" family and the struggles that followed as I tried to figure life out. Ultimately, I went through a Dark Night of the Soul and in the dawn that followed the night, I found the God within me. This story does not detail then subsequent integration of that first awakening or the many smaller awakenings that I have had since. I'll write about that someday soon and update this post with a link. Love & Light, Umi The Path to My First Awakening Childhood My Italian mother and African American stepfather were married when I was two and a half. My biological father is Puerto Rican but he wasn’t in my life until I was 32 years old. So, when I refer to “my parent’s”, it’s my mother and stepfather that I mean. I grew up in a big family. I am the eldest of 12 children. I have one biological daughter and 4 bonus childr...