I'm just amazed as I get to know people better, the stories that make up the history of each person's life. Many remain untold because we don't think our life is that interesting, but it is to our family, friends and perhaps even the world. Here's a challenge, pick three major life shaking events that took place in your life. Write a little paragraph about how they shaped your life. In my life, if I could only pick three, it would be:
1. My father's death when I was only five years old and the change in lifestyle that created for my mother and me. As we moved from Utah to California for my mom's job, many new opportunities were opened to me as I took ballet lessons and danced professionally in the LA City Ballet Company then majored in Dance at BYU. That wouldn't have happened in rural Utah. Through dance I gained self confidence and the ability to express myself.
2. My first marriage which enabled me to become a mother, then a divorce 11 years later that helped me become a stronger person as I pressed on as a single mother. I've learned the importance of free agency, being true to your own values and not following someone else's lifestyle that isn't "YOU". To divorce was probably the hardest decision I have ever made in my life but it opened up new possibilities for happiness.
3. My pioneer heritage and membership in the LDS Church that has given me faith in prayers to a loving Heavenly Father who has guided me and brought me stability throughout my life. The resurrection gives me hope for a happy reunion one day with my deceased family and friends. It also brought me a new hobby genealogy as I started searching for my roots. It's a lifelong pursuit that continues even today as I teach others how to research and share their family history.
Now tell us about your life.
You are a rich blessing. No. 2 speaks to me as a face that decision. I admire your courage on this matter and your respect for family and tradition that you identify in 1 and 3.
ReplyDeleteYou are very forthcoming Lin and I admire that. You too have faced challenges. I went to the LDS site and tried to educate myself a bit.
ReplyDeleteMy life has been marked by several big things. My brother's birth when I was 11 and my parent's separation and living with my father having a lot of responsibility for my baby brother and younger sister. My marriage at 18 to my divorce at 25 and my second marriage. My diagnosis of MS and all the challenges that has brought. My highlights have been my daughter and my husband...
hmmmm...
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any life altering, earth shattering experiences or REAL challenges.
Let's see...
I didn't get married until I was 31But, I was a "glamor girl" and lived a rich and lively life while single. So, I only had an occasional and usually short lived bout with lonliness.
My second born son has been a bittersweet experience for us as he continues to make his life more difficult than it needs to be. But, he's still a delight to be around, when you can be around him. And the other kids are a source of constant and continual joy! I think of all of our children as the jewels in our crown.
I feel like my life has been charmed. But then, I'm one of those "Pollyanna" types who calls traffic signals "GO" lights, so maybe it hasn't been as easy as I think it has, and I just didn't notice. Any sorrow or deep regret I've felt has been brought on by my own careless or wrongful behavior. I've had to accept it, live through it, grab what lesson I could, and leave it behind.
The one thing I know for sure is that there is nothing more important for me to concentrate on than relationships. Not just with family and old friends, but with strangers as well. I find I need to work at that more and more as I age. People have always been the focus of my existence, but the older I get the more I enjoy my solitude. The more I guard my time so I can spend it communing with the creek, the blossoms of spring and the leaves of fall. I want to set myself on the grass and listen to the whisper of the breeze telling secrets of eternity as it passes through our land. But, joy is meant to be shared. So, it remains important to find opportunities each day to spread some of the peace and contentment it is my pleasure to have.
The greatest legacy I can leave my children is a deep and abiding love of mankind and nature, and a strong testmimony of faith in prayer, and in themselves.
I ache, sincerely, for those who lose parents at a young age, or who have had a child taken from them, or who have had to let go of the dreams they cloaked themselves in as new brides. I wish I had words to salve those sorrowing hearts. I wish I had a gift to give them that could take the pain away long enough for them to catch their breath or snuggle into restful sleep.
I don't know why I've been so fortunate. There have been times I've almost felt quilty because of it.
Enough of me........there are so many out there who have lived larger lives and have greater stories to tell!
As usual you have given me something deep to think about. I probably could narrow down a list to 3 things but, I'll have to think about it a bit in order to do so.
ReplyDeleteI tend to pass on acknowledging the trials and struggles I have had to overcome and to focus really hard on the good that came from it, the favorable end-result, or the lesson(s) I learned from it.