Happiness

I was browsing through some bumper stickers on facebook and I happened to run across a quote by Bob Dylan. NOT the usual person I would quote, but it caused my mind to contemplate what he really meant and what I drew from it. It said, "Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain."

Everyone has pain. Everyone has some sort of trial in their life that causes some kind of pain. That's the fact of life. The ability to cope with this reflects our happiness or our "beauty." Sometimes it's easy to perceive a happy, beautiful person and long to be like them, but it's fact that they have some kind of pain. The reason they are beautiful and happy is because they were able to think positive and move forward.

Being able to progress amidst the trials of life makes us beautiful and happy.

What will be your legacy?

As I was going through the security line at the Salt Lake International Airport, I saw a group of people of all ages congregated with a "Welcome Home" sign and video cameras. I used my quick thinking and deducted that they were waiting for the return of a missionary. I WAS in Utah. Intrigued I tried to move as slowly as possible through the line so I could watch the arrival of this missionary. Unfortunately the line was short and I was on the other side. I really wanted to see the excitement on this missionary's face. So I found myself sitting myself down on a comfy seat so I could watch. With hindsight, that was kind of weird. I hope they don't look through there videos and see me! Anyway, I sat there and kept my eyes peeled for a young man wearing a suit and nametag. I didn't see one. However, I did see a senior couple couple wearing tags walking towards the exit. As I heard the screams as the crowd spotted the couple, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Tears welled up in my eyes as the reality of the ripple effect settled in. The senior sister missionary cried out, "There are our kids!" There was her posterity. Her sons, daughters, son-in-laws, daugther-in-laws, grandbabies and other people that were affected by her. How wonderful of a feeling that must've been to see just a small portion of people who loved you dearly and anticipated your arrival. People who missed you.

I look forward to the day where my children and grandchildren can "welcome me home" with such love and excitement. I pray that I can be such a woman of integrity, to leave my legacy.

My camera's battery was dead, or I would've stalkerishly tried to sneak a picture. I wanted to remember the emotions I felt, so I quickly sketched what I saw. :)

Defining Audrey Qualities

I find it is easier to maintain control over my emotions in life when I understand myself.
So, here are the top five things that I've classified as my "defining Audrey qualities."

1) The one thing that brings me the most happiness and the most sadness in my life is the same thing. People. I love people. I love older people, middle aged people, young adults, little kids and especially babies.

I was blessed with the ability to care for others. I love people easily. I will do anything for someone who I care about, so I generally will do anything for anyone if it brings them happiness. I believe that random acts of kindness are the missing pieces in life. This brings me the most happiness.

I care too much for people. When I see someone hurting, I hurt. When someone doesn't live up to his/her potential, I am disappointed. When people are sad, I'm sad. This brings the most sadness in my life.

2) I like to be unique. If I'm in a situation where I feel as if my uniqueness is jeopardized, I leave.

3) I have to feel needed and loved or I shut down and run away.

4) I'm afraid of failure. Because of this I rarely do my best in anything. This only applies to situations where failure could be humiliating. Even though I could care less what others think of me, I would be humiliated if I failed at something. Even if nobody cared, I still would be embarrassed. On the same note, when I put my mind to do something, I'm going to do it well.

5) I love everything. I love all kinds of varieties of movies, foods, books, sports, clothes...everything. I used to think that I was a people pleaser because I liked everything everyone else liked, but I realized, I can be down with anything pretty much.