Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sentimental Sunday - "Live the life you have imagined."

" Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you have imagined."
- Henry David Thoreau

I have a small dry erase board on the side of my refrigerator that I scribble "reminders" on. Sometimes those reminders are quotes I come across that stand out to me as a piece of advice I want to apply to my life. This morning I read this quote referenced in this awesome post - "The Freedom to Move" by Loren Christie on the Mom Writer's Literary Magazine Blog. (If you have a few minutes to click on over and read it, it is time well spent.)

I've been thinking a lot lately about the direction of my life and how Pat and I can best mentor and guide our children to develop their talents and reach for their dreams. Abby loves to dance and draw. She talks about being a paleontologist or an archaeologist. (I didn't even know what a paleontologist was at her age!) Noah love anything sports and has a mean golf swing and follow through (as Pat says)...not the norm for his age. He says he wants to be a "superhero astronaut and fly to da moon!" Of course, they are young and their interests are still developing, but as parents, I hope they will always feel that we are behind them, cheering them on, or even better, leading them by example...

It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.

I am reaching! I haven't been able to reach as far during this past year as I would have liked, but I think the prayers that have been answered, the blessings we have been given, and the lessons we've learned (and are still learning) are pointing our family in that direction - to live the life we have imagined.

Needless to say, I am adding this quote to my dry erase board, right below an inspiring quote from Mr. Walt Disney ~
If you can dream it, you can do it.

He definitely ought to know!

1 comment:

amanda said...

You are doing a wonderful job. You love your kids and it shows. You have been very patient and upbeat during a very difficult time and that says a lot about you. I have been extremely inspired by you this last year. I think your children are lucky:)