Moving On

An early New Year's Resolution? Why not. I have been waling around for far too long, carrying about thingsand peope that I simply cannot change. There are times when I realy beat myself up about it and lately I have decided that it is simply sucking too much energy out of me. I am far better off working on things I can change and focusig obn making my life as nice as it can be. Why did it take me so long to kearn this lesson? Never too late I suppose...

Kindness

Sometimes an event will happen that really makes you take a look at your partner in life and either realize you are with the right person or it will make you wonder what the heck you are doing with that person. Last night I got even more confirmation that I am indeed with the right guy. We were off to Wal-mart to get a birthday gift and card for our neighbour's daughter. It was just getting dark when we got there but our daughter spotted a man with his dog in the parking lot and commented on the cute dog (she is three and she gets very excited when she sees dogs, cats, squirrels etc). I will admit that I noticed the dog but not the man. As we started towards the entrance (Bob likes to park a mile out at all times) the man approached us with his dog. It was then that I noticed his shabby clothes and scruffy appearance. He was walking his dog with a rope as a leash. He asked if we could do something to help him. Both he and his dog were hungry. Without hesitation Bob asked him if he could stick around for five minutes so we could grab something for him. The man was very thankful (but just a little worried he would get in trouble for hanging around). Bob and I hauled it into Wal-mart. He went for dog food and I went for people food. We ended up gathering bread, juice, lunch meat, cheese, breakfast bars, grapes, apples, cookies and dog food. Bob asked them to double bag it and ran it out to the man. He was very, very thanksful. I am so glad that I spend my life with a man who doesn't think twice when someone needs help. I am the exact same way and sometimes I take flack for it. When I drive into Toronto there will often be people begging under the bridge. I ALWAYS give them $5. Usually other people in my car will remark that these people probably use the money for drugs, or why don't they go get a job etc etc. The bottom line is that I believe they are there asking for money because they truly NEED it. If I am getting played, so be it. If I am actually helping make someone's life a bit easier than I am happy to do it whenever I can.

Lessons Learned

I like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded person. I don't have to like everything that a person does or agree with everything that they believe in, in order to like that person. I hope I am raising my daughter to feel the same way. I find that keeping an open mind also allows me to learn life lessons. This has been happening quite a bit lately for me. I have realized that sometimes I can be quick to share a dilemma with people and see what their point of view is. Then I find myself replacing my judgement with theirs. Usually it doesn't feel good in the end. Lately I have realized that I need to absorb the facts, sit back and listen to what my gut tells me. I used to be a good judge of character and I used to confidently make decisions. Over the past few years I find that this has not been the case and I want to get back to that. All life lessons, I suppose. Speaking of a life lesson, a few weeks ago I posted about my daughter being naughty in dance class. We missed dance last week because we went to the Royal Winter Fair instead (we both loved it). Last night was our first time back to dance after that last, bad, class. Piper and I have spent quite some time discussing the importance of listening and being respectful in the past few weeks so I felt like I had sort of gotten through to her (keeping in mind she is 3). Lastnight we went into dance, got there a few minutes early and she apologized to Miss Jennifer (dance teacher) for not listening and not behaving. I was quite proud of her because she sounded quite sincere. Her dance lesson went MUCH better. She participated more, listened more and seemed to have loads of fun! I won't say she was perfect. There were moments when she went a little rogue and did her own thing but the improvement was big and hey, Rome was not built in a day right?

The Future

You never know what your future holds. You can do your best to set goals, make plans etc but the truth is...the future is a hard thing to predict. The reason for this post is that a few years ago I had no idea that I would be a jewellery designer and that I would have my own studio/shop. As I was driving into the studio this morning, and into the little town of St. George, I was remembering all the times in my past when I had driven into St. George. It was usually to meet friends for dinner (St. George has an awesome little pub that we used to frequent). It got me thinking. I wonder how many times I looked at the building that I now rent and work in every day. I had no idea back then that I would be where I am today. Back then I didn't even make jewellery and while I was always creative and while I always wanted to be self employed I would never have guessed that this is where I would be eventually. It made me feel pretty lucky for the life I have....