what do you want to be when you grow up?

this question. until i was 29, i had no clue.

(photo courtesy of uncle benji)

i figured my dream job would be laying at my feet the day i graduated college. i went into retail, started hair school but didn't finish (yep, i'm a beauty school drop out), went into banking, went back to retail, went back to banking until becoming a teacher. but even then, when someone would ask the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?", at the age of 29, i still had no idea. then i met mclain. the first moment i held him in my arms, i planned on never letting go! (his middle school/high school and college years were going to be pretty awkward seeing as i wasn't planning on letting go and would physically be with him every step of the way ;)) i knew then that all i wanted was to be his mama. when i grow up, i want to be a mom. some girls learn this at age 4, it only took me a quarter of a century longer to figure it out.

in the process of moving/unpacking and getting our home organized i was distracted by a box of letters i've kept but have never really gone back to read.  do you have those?  a box of old letters, birthday cards, journals? when was the last time you went through them? for me, i hadn't gone back to read them since i tucked them away years ago. 9 years ago to be exact. i found a  letter from my grandpa (when i went off to college him and my g-ma would write me letters about life back in san antonio).  this letter. this letter he wrote 8 months after my grandma (greatest woman i've ever known) had passed away.

"I hope that you are enjoying Tech and your work- difficult 'tho it may be. I am truly proud of you for going to college to get a better education and hopefully a promising career. But, of course I prefer to see you to be more like Grandma and devote yourself to a husband and family."

she was and is the woman i've always admired most. she loved well and taught me so much. she bought me my first bible, taught me how to cook, how to be patient (i'm still working on that one), the value of eating together at the table as a family, she taught me that i could be anything i wanted to be, that i didn't have to follow in others' footsteps. she was always so encouraging and put those she loved first. today is my last day of my old job and tomorrow i get to start a new chapter, i get to be what i want to be and do what i want to do. i get to devote myself to my husband and family. 

hugs and kisses~s and bg

*the picture above has nothing to do with the post, but isn't he the cutest?! also, i was a barista in my former life....twice :)