What I Learned This Weekend

I know my blog is usually different than this...but I came to realize a few things this weekend and wanted to get them written down somewhere, so why not here?

1.  I learned that shopping is no fun without credit cards! Two years ago I started took Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey...a wonderful turning point in my personal life.   I no longer have credit cards and I am working on personal debt and I am proud to say, have made a lot of progress both in my debt and my attitude about my debt and spending.   This past weekend I went to my mother's home in southern Illinois for our annual family fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (two of my nephews Beau and Gabe have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy).  I had an appointment in the Galleria Mall Friday morning at 9 am....so as I walked through the mall I reminisced about what shopping used to be, just spending money whether I had it or not.  Well, that no longer happens.  I don't buy everything I want any more.  I live much simpler, with the goal of paying off my debt.  Sometimes it seems possible, sometimes it seems  impossible, but I have not lost hope that I can do it.  After all, I am the one who created the debt, so I should be the one to responsibly pay it off.

2.  I learned that I still expect to see my Dad at my Mom's house.  I know he has been gone for almost six months now, but still I expected to see him there Friday afternoon.  I drove up between the barn and the house and looked...no Dad.  I cried it out and realized (again) he was not there.

3.  I learned that I really did not know my Dad very well, but I still love him.

4.  I learned that even in tough times, a small community can rally for a cause they really believe in...our MDA fundraiser grossed $48,000 in a town of 1000 (more about that in another post).

5.  I learned there is strength in numbers.

6.  I was reminded my Mom is a very strong woman. 

7.  I was reminded that life isn't fair, but that being alive is a gift from God and that should be enough. 

8.  I was reminded that everyone handles grief in their own style or perhaps doesn't handle it at all. 

9.  I was reminded of how proud I am of my son. 

10. I was reminded that burdens are meant to be shared.

I ran across this quote somewhere today (sorry I can't remember where) but it really seemed to fit this day. 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt