I just want to be happy …

Courtesy:Rawrdaniel

Two posts in one night, not unheard of, but still …3 a.m. Thought bubble.

It was an Oprah kind of night. And tonight’s Master Class was Goldie Hawn. I really enjoy these little Master Classes, because I can watch them and really identify and utilize some of the things they speak about.

Her first words … I just want to be happy, was a goal. It was something she wanted to do. It was all very ideal and perfect, then life happened.

I wanted all those ideal things too. A family, 2.5 children, a home, a dog or two and the ideal life. All those things you learned in Home Economics about the American Dream. I thought my parents had it. And they did have it.

And when I grew up, I thought that I would have it too. Then life happened. I went where the wind took me and I ended up here. And I was ready to start building. I think I needed a little more time to mature, that’s why it took me so long to figure out that I wanted to be happy. It is a very simple recipe. But it didn’t happen until I was well into my 30′s to figure it out.

And now I am in my 40′s and I think I am relatively happy. There is nothing that I don’t need. I am content with what I have today and I need nothing more. I live my life, I do what I can, I serve my community and my marriage. And everything comes back full circle. Because it is in giving that we receive. The road map came courtesy of the program…

Throughout her storytelling she spoke about a road map, and what she learned from her father. To be grounded in life. Not to get too big for your britches… And if you think you are going there, to be reminded that you are here in this moment. and that’s what life is “a series of moments” strung together, and one moment is not more important than the next.

Awards and accolades are nice to get. But they are in but a moment of time. She spoke of not living off the award or accolade, but living true to ones self. Living in the moment. Savoring each moment.

I learned some things from my father as well. He was a good teacher on a good day and he did share somethings along the way. I learned how to take care of a home from the inside out. How to make an honest dollar, and he was the man of the house and there was no other to learn from but him.

He was a man of his times. And not much growth came of that time. He was set in his ways and that was that and that’s how he remained for the rest of my life. Nothing new under the sun.

But what defines us? What makes us “US?”

I am who I am because of my morals, and my integrity. I am me because of what I have learned in this life, and what I have to give back. All the lessons I have learned in as many years are evident in the way I speak to others, how I treat them and how I treat my husband in my own marriage.

There are a multitude of people who have taught me about myself. Years of self education and reeducation came at a high cost. We are all works in progress.

What do I know about myself ? I know a lot.

Goldie says that there is a gift in growing older … There is a surprise…

When we grow older, the surprise is what we still have to contribute to the world around us. As long as we are living and breathing we have the opportunity to give back to the world something we have been given.

And that is the SURPRISE !!!

That we can give back, until that time we decide to stop. And we expire.

We may not all be young and perky but we are older adults who now have an opportunity to give back the gifts that were given and taught to us in our lives, because there are plenty of people out there who need to hear what we have to say. Because everyone has something special to say. We all have that gift, our life. And life is not to be taken for granted. In every life there comes a time when we have reached a point that we are ready to put it all out there.

We do that in the program. We give what was freely given to us. We serve, we speak, we thank, and we serve some more. Service is a never ending process.

Who are you ? What makes you “YOU ?”

And what do you have to give back ??? Ok, then go and do it …