Choosing a Purpose

Live with intention. Walk to the edge.

Listen hard. Practice wellness.

Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret.

Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn.

Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.

~Mary Anne Radmacher

I have recently read a book about dying young.  It wasn't so much how sad I was to read about those that died, although that was a tragic part, rather I ached for the ones left behind.  I think in the dying, we often choose to let a part of ourselves die as well.  This book then went on to explore how hard and crippling it can be to make the choice of living after any tragedy. 

The idea of setting goals or objectives made a huge difference when continuing to living in an ordinary world.  It made sense to me.  I've thought a great deal about the goals and objectives I have set in my life. 

Truly, there really aren't that many, except to just live.  Isn't that crazy?  I always wanted to marry.  Done.  I knew I wanted children.  Check.  On the other hand, I know what I don't want to do.  I don't want to die without seeing what happens next.  I don't ever want to let my precious family slip from my grasp.  I never want kindness and joy not to be a part of my everyday life.

Then what?  What do I want to come next?  I know that I would like to see my children get married and have children.  But for me, there is so much living in between now and then.  So which way should I point my compass?  Or should I just wait to see where the wind takes me?

Now that I have had a birthday come and go, I decided to get busy and start living with a purpose.  Therefore, I created a list...40 things I want to do before I turn 40!  We'll see how far I get, and I better be getting busy.  Only four years to go!
 

40 BEFORE 40

Belly laugh. Often.	Take a road- trip without a pre-planned destination.	Continue to dance and sing in my kitchen each day…even when my kids ask me to stop.	Make a difference in the life of a single mother.	Give more.  Buy less.
Be fiscally responsible.	Forgive and ask to be forgiven.	Get behind a cause and spend time helping it grow.	Karaoke.	Buy a kayak and hit the water routinely.
Make the perfect cupcake.	Send real birthday cards and letters, routinely.	Go on a mission trip and give myself entirely to the cause.	Take my boys to a UT v. Florida game.	Spend a week at the beach with my best friends, romance novels, and lots of wine.
Purge all of the junk in my house…no need to keep décor from college!	Live in the moment.	Make friends with 5 people TOTALLY different than me and nurture the friendships.	Spend Christmas at Disney World with my family.	Stop obsessing.
Learn to take a compliment well.	Enjoy a picnic.	Look at my children, see myself, and smile.	Be happy.	Love my husband more dearly.
Grow an herb garden.	Foster a child, besides my own, in some way.	Slalom ski on the water again.	Tell the people most important to me how much I love them.	Take up tennis.
Overcome my greatest weakness.	Plant a tree and watch it grow.	Share a smile. Everyday.	Publish an article on paper…not online.	Find my passion and follow it.
Read ten classic novels each year.	Listen more. Talk less.	Fit back in my wedding dress.	Go above and beyond.	Help someone in need.