Interview with Myself

I subscribe to a blog written by Chris Guillebeau. I have not fully examined the depth of his blog, as there are many layers. I get a newsletter from his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. His goal is to travel to every country in the world in 4 years. Whoa. Nothing like aiming high!

One of his recent newsletters really got me thinking, so I decided to use his questions as a series of blog posts. The first question is this: "Dear self, you are X years old. What do you have to show for it? Are you living the dream?"

Wow. Now THAT is a loaded question! My mind is spinning in so many different directions, because there truly are so many ways to answer this. What I have concluded is that the key to the question is my mindset. My point of view. Where my heart and soul are. A few years ago the answers would have been totally different....but today, this minute, right now...

I am 39 years old. I have a LOT to show for my life! First and foremost, I know the Lord, and am seeking to develop more and more the relationship I have with him. I've been a believer my whole life, but as I age, the relationship with God take on a whole new depth. So many facets.

I also have a successful 10 year marriage, and a beautiful, genuis child. Being a wife and mother is enriching, inspiring, exhausting, exciting, fulfilling, draining, crazy and beautiful all at once. These are the 2 best choices I have made in my life.

I haven't traveled the world, but I've seen a bit of this beautiful country. I've been to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and Niagra Falls. I've seen the St. Louis Arch up close. SO cool! I've been to the Rockies, the Grand Canyon, New Hampshire and California. My favorite place is Colorado. We hope to retire there someday.

I've really, really lived, and I've almost died. I had a job I truly loved, and I was good at it. I made good money in corporate America from the ages of 23-29. I've been hospitalized for months at a time, not knowing if I was going to live.

I've loved, and I've lost. I have beautiful friendships, and a lifetime of memories.

Am I living the dream?

In some ways, yes. It's a different dream than I had 15 years ago, but I think this may be even better. I want to inspire people. I want them to know that with God, anything is possible. Going off my medication for the myasthenia gravis at 35 to have a child shouldn't have worked. Yet God blessed my husband and I with the perfect son, for us. I shouldn't have even been alive to try to have this child, and yet God literally rescused me from the brink of death.

I want to educate people about chronic illness, something I hope I do with this blog. So if I can inspire even a handful of people to live their lives, to really live...and to trust God in the process, no matter what...If people learn something new and treat someone differently (better) than they normally would because I have educated them in some way, then I will be living the dream.

The next installation of this self-interview will be: As you look back on your life, what are you most proud of, what do you regret, and how do you feel about each of those things?