Warm Hearts Happy Family

One of the most inspirational books I have read is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (co-authored with Jeffery Zaslow).  Randy lived his life with passion and courage and most importantly with dreams.  He realized almost all of his childhood dreams against all the odds most people face. 

One of the things that resonated loudly with me was one of his mantras:  “The brick walls are there for a reason.  They’re not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”.  These words embedded themselves into my core and refused to be ignored.

I want my children to grow up surrounded by optimism, surrounded by success and passion.  I lost my dreams somewhere between swinging on the playground and figuring out how to make all of the bill payments on time.  But I am claiming them back–my life is mine to determine and I owe it to my childhood-self to do the things she knew I would be best at.  The things that would make me happy.

Kids are funny that way.  They know their talents right away–they know what they want to be right away.  But too often kids face stresses and obstacles that erode the once glossy dream into a distant memory.  I will do everything in my power not to let this happen to my children.  I am hear to nurture and foster every dream they have–who am I to say if their dreams are realistic or weather or not they can achieve them.  They will face that enough in their lives and my hope is my voice will be loud enough, influencing enough, to resonate in their heads when they themselves are feeling self-doubt. 

Kids are sponges and in a lot of cases emulate the life they have at home.  So my gift to them–to prove they can make whatever life they want–is to believe in myself.  To chase after my dreams and to accomplish my definition of success.

***Important note*** I think it is prudent to mention one of the things I have been blessed with is common sense. So you will never see me screaming into a camera at the judges of American Idol if my child is clearly and devastatingly devoid of any artistic talent.  Nurturing does not equal lying to your children but that is just me. 

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