My Hopes

I was reading a blog post written by a friends wife, about her hopes for her life, and the type of person and mother she hopes to be. It made me think about what my goals are as a person, and what I want to be, so I thought I'd make a list as well.I hope to smile and laugh, and be happy more than any other emotion. To focus on the positive, and the blessings in my life, more than on the sadness and frustrations.

• I hope to always be forgiving, and to try to understand other people and their true intentions, and to realize that when people do harmful things, it is only because they are hurting within themselves.
• I hope to always take care of my body and strive to be healthy but be able to stay balanced in my health. Eat well, exercise, but also enjoy life and eat dessert. :)
• I hope to always have a home that feels comfortable. To have it well decorated, but lived in. A place where your heart feels warm.
• I hope for my home to also be an open, loving environment. One like my mom's where there are always visitors, and those visitors often feel like they are at their home away from home.
• I hope I always have a dog. This may seem silly to some, but I feel like a family is not a family without a dog. I also feel that having a dog can help teach children how to be loving and caring toward all creatures.
• I hope to never have my children (Will and any others I may someday have) doubt that I love them. I want them to know, no matter what, that their mom will always be there for them.
• I hope to someday be a wife. I want my husband to feel as though I am his biggest fan. I want to make him dinner, and rub his back. I want to snuggle, and laugh. I want to have a loving relationship with my husband that I know is a good role model to our children of what a relationship should look like.
• I want to not live my life in fear. I want to love and laugh and play. I want to live my life to the fullest.
• I hope to be a non judgmental person. I want to have friends from all walks of life and to love them for who they are and where they have come from.
• I hope to raise a family, who laughs as much as my parents and siblings do when we are together.
• I hope to teach my children how to be charitable and giving. I hope to teach them them that giving to others brings love and happiness to their own hearts.
• I hope to learn from my children as I realize that each child and person has their own strengths.
• I hope to always value myself, and not let things in life weigh down my inner self.

One of my favorite quotes: "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." — Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Ok, maybe not a station wagon... but you get the idea. I hope to live a life that is a reflection of love and happiness.