This question makes me think of this Oingo Boingo song. (Gratitude)
“Life’s been so good to me, has it been good to you?
Has it been everything that you expected it to be?
Was it as good for you as it was good for me?
Was it everything it was all set up to be?”
My definition of what I want out of life changes periodically.
When I was living in Japan years ago one night I had a memorable dream of a house with a white picket fence a little red fuzzy dog and a porch swing on the front porch.
A couple of years later I was living that to my amazement I’d managed to dream it and then make it be….and just when I thought I had my life all sorted out.. I went and fell in love with a man who lived thousands of miles away.
It was hard selling off my (literally) dream house and moving away from all my friends and family—but me and my dog moved far away to start a new life…because by then what I wanted companionship of the RIGHT man more than just the house, the dog and the white picket fence. Nearly 15 years of hindsight later I can tell you I made the right choice.
There are some things we can’t control (like health..and if you disagree I would like to point you to my super-healthy eating marathon running family members who died of a brain tumor, & aneurysm respectively and another friend who was in perfect health who fell off a ladder and died… so, point is..you can only control your destiny w/ regards to health to a degree, y’know?)... but of the things I can control:
I want to be a wonderful mom to my kids and give them a happy, memorable childhood.
I want to be a good wife and make my husband happy.
I want to be a good, supportive friend and be there when my friends need me.
I want a comfy couch and a cozy bed to plop into and read..or quilt. (And since I live in the freakin’ tundra here..a roof over my head and the ability to pay my heating bills goes with this particular “want”...)
I want to have enough time and money to support my reading and quilting habits comfortably.
So far..doing pretty good on all of the above…and that’s all that I could hope for, for now.