It was beautiful. There was snow and there were Evergreens with thick blankets of snow and a river running beside the road.
There were distant mountain peaks that turned pink as the sun was setting and there were close meadows where Hubby spotted elk bedded down.
I drank it all in. I was happy as a clam. I loved driving through the towns that really aren't so far from me but I've never seen them before because we are new to this part of the country.
This is the West. This is where old barns sit snugly in meadows and listen to the mountains sing them to sleep at night. This is where horses frolic, cows live a life that I envy and where wildlife bigger than my German Shepherd is common.
This is where people in boots and fringed leather live. This is the West.
I myself have roots in the Midwest. I will always love it best. But loving the prairie was what gave me eyes to see the beauty in the islands and the ocean and the now, the mountains.
If you're reading this and thinking that I am a one of those people who goes around with a Maria Von Trapp style smile, swirling about in ecstasy in nature, you're wrong.
Yesterday, when I picked my oldest up from school she looked over at me and said "Mom! Is this a sarcastic text!?!"
What! Me? Yes, honey. But be glad because I'm only sarcastic when I'm in a good mood . . .seriously, when I get depressed I withdraw and don't say much at all.
What you just read, that description of our trip, is an Intentional Memory.
You see, when we got back from the trip on Sunday evening I was thinking about it and I was thinking things like this:
I wish it hadn't been so cold.
I wish we had eaten at that restaurant that I heard someone else raving about AFTER we ordered our just-ordinary, over-priced food.
I can't believe that I lost my favorite boots.
I started to realize that I was absolutely ruining my memory of this trip. And if I said those things out loud, I'd ruin the memory for my Hubby and my kids, too.
So when I talk about it, I'm going to talk about things like this:
Wasn't it awesome when we rolled the windows down and you guys "tasted a cloud" for the first time!
I always try to credit people with concepts, but I can't remember who came up with this one . . .it's not new to me, but I want to remember it always:
We remember what we want to remember. We can remake the past by choosing what we dwell on.
It's so true.
I remember an unfortunate person that I know telling me about a get together with her husband's side of the family. She told me, in front of her mother-in-law, how miserable she was. How she felt out of place, how everyone else fit into the family and knew their roles, but she was new and didn't know what to do.
Her mother-in-law was speechless. Later she said to me: "But she had such a good time! I watched her play the piano and sing! She jumped right in there. But then she went back and talked with her mother and they rewrote that whole experience in their heads." The mother-in-law shook her head sadly . . .and you know what? That marriage didn't last too long, either, which was too bad for everyone.
According to some sources we think the same thoughts over and over . . .98% of our thoughts are the same as what we thought on yesterday! 80% of most people's thoughts are negative! Click here to learn more about that.
So if you're like me and so many other people . . .one of those people who defaults to negative . . .let's choose together to default to positive. Let's be intentional about the memories we are making. It's a God thing, you know . . .
Philippians 4:8 NIV
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
So go on and make a memory today! And as life goes on, lot's of memories. Good ones.
~ Jennifer
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