My hopes

I love my daughter and cherish her as precious to me. There are two other young women in my life whom, though they may not believe it, I also care very deeply about. I think about my life when I was their age and all the things I wish for them. I have so many hopes and dreams for them. Mostly that they follow their own hopes and dreams and achieve at least some of them.

I hope that they are strong. I hope that they are honest and virtuous. I hope that they are authentic and don't let their behavior be too strongly influenced by what is "cool." I hope they are courageous enough to figure out what they want and go after it. I hope they are happy and always feel loved.

I have decided that on the TangledArts facebook page I will periodically (at least weekly) post quotes that I find meaningful. Things said by the famous and not-so-famous that I hope these wonderful girls, and any other wonderful people who stumble upon my page, will take to heart. Since the little one is only 18 months old, it'll be a while before she will care. But I hope one day she will care.

I will try not to be to trite or preachy or cheesy. I'm not usually one for mindless motivation. I want to be able to express myself using the words of people oh so much more eloquent and intelligent than me.

To start things off, today I posted a wonderful little observation from the beloved Captain Jack Sparrow:

The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.

It's true, isn't it? Almost all the time. Problems come. It's a fact of life. Some times they come it little drips and sometimes they come in big floods that threaten to drown us. So, freak out for a moment, have a cry if you need one, and then face them. Face them head on without prevaricating or deceiving yourself. It never helps. See your problems for what they are and figure out what to do about it. Decide how to live with them, how to eliminate them or how to warp them into something you can live with.

My parents had 5 teenagers in the house at once. Five. And a preteen. We were moody, irritable and irritating. We complained incessantly and we never had fun. Fun was not cool. The only thing to do was to hate everything.

After a few excruciating family trips, they started giving us a new rule: everyone had to "be the fun." Including the parents. (My dad was well known for his complaining too). A magical thing happened. We had fun. Even when it was hot and we had to wait in line and we were hungry and we were expected to do "kid stuff." When we decided to have fun we have fun.

The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. So change your attitude, decide what to do about the problem and do it!

I hope the girls will never let their attitude defeat them. They deserve better.