The rest of our lives...

When we are kids... we are asked what we want to be when we grow up... and as a child... we can only give 1 answer....

I was talking to a friend today who was making a very important decision. One based on pure speculation, having no experience in what she was choosing, which didn't bother me at all. We all have to make decisions like that.. it's completely necessary. What intrigued me was how absolute she was on this decision. She wasn't happy the way she was and could never be happy the way she was, although she is doing wonderful things. And she was convinced that this new lifestyle she has chosen will make her happy "for the rest of her life." See the interesting thing to me about that phrase is that I don't think people understand how long the rest of your life is! How can someone do one thing for their entire life?

I am 23 years old. If I live till sometime in my 80's that gives me some 60 years left of my life. I've just begun on my journey! I'm just barely getting started! I am young! There have been no decisions that I have made that will keep me from doing anything I chose to do in the future..and I truly believe that!

I have been a ballet dancer for a very long time. I started at age 8 which puts me at 15 years of ballet. Now I love it beyond all belief, and I don't believe I'll ever really quit, but that doesn't mean I HAVE to do what I'm doing now for the rest of my life. I love jazz... I am finding a love for modern dance.. who knows... maybe I'll continue with ballet for several years... maybe I'll stop after graduation... maybe I'll audition for a bunch of companies and make one... maybe I'll start acting... maybe I'll be a modern dancer... maybe I'll decide to have 10 kids.... maybe we'll pack up and move to Europe...maybe I'll write a book... maybe I'll become a famous choreographer, photographer, or performer... maybe I'll start my own company...maybe I'll go back to school to become a doctor or physical therapist... or you know what.... Maybe I'll do all of those things. I have the time... I have 60 years... surely I can do whatever I want. This is my life and I can be more than one thing if I want to be...

and do I want to be!

Now with that said I realize that some decisions cannot be undone... well... I guess they can.. but these are decisions that I have made for myself that WILL not be undone...

1) I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints.

(no... I didn't take this picture... I wish!)
I will try to live up to the standards the Lord has set in everything I do. That being said...I will make mistakes... I am human...but I will fix those mistakes along the way.

2) I am married to a wonderful man.

He is my other half... I love him very much and every decision I make will be based upon his support and with him in mind. I will be faithful to him for not only the rest of our lives... but for eternity... Forever baby.. thats how we do...

3) I am a mother.

I have one child right now.. but that will change eventually... we will have more kids... and as we have talked about the timing of our next child or subsequent children... we have agreed that our children deserve as much of us as we can give them. I will not make any decisions in my life that will take my motherhood away from me.. or take away the attention my children need and deserve.

4) I am a dancer...

Yes... if you noticed this is the only one that deserves the "dot dot dot's"  .... and this is why.
I am a dancer. I have tried to get rid of this part of me in the past and have failed miserably. It's in me. And I believe it will always be in me... no matter what I'm doing. That doesn't mean I will always be a ballet dancer... but it means that movement and the dance world will always be a part of what I'm doing. It will affect me in every aspect of my life... and I know that I will never be able to stop moving... So whether I'm choreographing, teaching, dancing ballet, dancing jazz, dancing modern, dancing ballroom.... this art form will always be a part of me.

So there it is... this is the basic outline of "the rest of my life".... the rest hopefully will be filled with really-high highs... and hopefully not-too-low lows..and they will change and morph and develop and lead me down different paths that I never expected.

So that is the new title of my blog... The rest of my life... Hopefully I'll be able to write down the things that I choose to fill "the rest of my life" with here in this blog.

Who says you can only grow up to be one thing.......