If I said that around my mom she would laugh, (in agreement) and just shake her head. My Mom tells me all the time to do stuff and honestly, I just don't half the time. I easily forget things unless it is something that I want to do (I know this is not one of my better qualities, but I am working on it, I promise!). That is what she tells me and she is correct. I think about 'me' all of the time. The things that I want to achieve, the car that I want, the house I want and the way I want to decorate it, my job, my money, my free time, and how I got to where I am at this point in my life.
Well here is a big shock, I got here, because my parents loved me enough to let me make my own decisions (whether they knew I was going to make a huge mistake or not), they let me have way more than I ever should have gotten, sometimes let me off WAY too easy, and wanted the best there ever could be for me. It sounds like I ran all over my parents, and yes sometimes I am sure that I did. I am sure that I disrespected them and took advantage of the freedom, their trust, and their willingness to give. BUT I still had rules and when I broke them I WAS punished. I will never forget getting in trouble for stealing the key to our lake house and going with a few friends and my brother and a couple of his friends (ALL my idea). Well, we got caught. Apparently when we left there was a light on our pier that was left on. My brother had taken my car a few days or weeks earlier for whatever reason, and my neighbor told my parents that it was my car in the driveway and they were just making sure that everything was okay. Assuming that he would be the one to do this (not precious me) they blamed him and he actually took it. It wasn't until later in the day (after I knew that he had taken the heat for me while I was out with my friend, and chose not to come home and take responsibility for it (can we say selfish any clearer than that)) when my mom finally just got to him with her "so disappointed"'s that he made her realize who it actually was... TALK ABOUT TROUBLE. I was grounded for homecoming week my senior year. I YELLED and SCREAMED because they would not let me out of the house one night to climb the water tower (of death.. If you are from Pleasant Grove you know this thing could have fallen down at any moment.. They actually tore it down the following year because it was a threat and danger since we brilliant, fearless, high school children couldn't stay off of it). I just wanted to paint my name on there. . . And they were NOT giving in.
So needless to say, I had freedom, and I got away with a lot. But my parents were still tough and I didn't get away with as much as I would like to think. We are all so funny to think that our parents do not know what we do when we are young. We think we are soo good at hiding our lifestyles, pictures, clothes, everything, but we don't realize that our parents actually know us better than most of our friends (at least this is the case with mine). My mom may not hear every detail of every story that I have to tell, I may leave out some very important pieces to make things seem better/worse than they are, but my mom can call me out quick. And I am not saying that she always knows what is going on.. but I am her daughter and she knows me. She knows when I am hurting, my moods and what they mean (after all she did give birth to me 23 years ago, I think by now she's got it), when I don't feel well and try to hide it, when I am stressed, and she can even guess what it is that is going on that makes me feel a certain way. Mothers are so much more deep than we ever could have guessed. They are super heros without the cape and leading ladies without the recognition.
So I say all of this to say. I think it is time to start listening to dear ol' Momskies! When she was my age, she traveled all over the place. She went to Europe, and who knows where else (I cannot always remember) with a group of people, but not always a group of people she knew very well. I think she tried to hint around to me on Valentine's day (in the sweetest email) that I need to get out of my comfort zone and see the world and what else is out there. I need to escape everyday and find joy and excitement in something other than what I have always settled to do. So I think this may be the year of planning and hopefully doing. I want to see something outside of the SEC. (ha) It is time to go beyond the southern states and see what the WORLD is really like. I will always be a southern girl and a Bama Baby, but who is to say that somewhere up north or out west couldn't be home (away from home of course)? Or at least a fun adventure? I'm going to try and do things a little differently this year, and hopefully from here on out. Anyone that would like to join me is more than welcome! The more the merrier! (ROADTRIP!) God made a world much too beautiful and complex not to see what all it has to offer. Not only do I want to get out and travel, I want to get out of the comfort of who I am and start experiencing life in a new and exciting way as well. I am twenty-three years old and single. I literally have the WORLD at my fingertips. I think it is time that I start to realize that and take advantage of this gift (that I don't always see as a gift...actually close to never) that God has given me. One day all of my dreams will come true, I do believe that (because I serve a God who loves me and wants to give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). I also believe that as his child, and someone who seeks him, the desires I have are placed there by him. So why wouldn't he want to grant me what he has placed inside of me?--HE is such an awesome God). But until they do, I have time to enjoy life in a completely different way than I might later in life. Some opportunities are once in a lifetime. They never come back around. It's time to start treating EVERY opportunity like that and taking chances.
No comments:
Post a Comment