Five Minute Friday: Imagine

She sat at the table yesterday and told me she can't wait to grow up. I looked into her innocent, 3 year-old face and told her not to wish her life away.

How well I remember wishing the exact same things just a few years ago. I felt the same way that she does, that once I was grown up, life would be easy, and I could do whatever I wanted to.

If only I knew.

I never imagined that my life would turn out to be what it is. I never imagined that growing up wouldn't be nearly as much fun as I thought it would.

If you would have asked me 6 months ago where I thought I would be today, I most certainly wouldn't have told you here.
If you would have asked me two years ago what I was going to study in college, I wouldn't have told you Exercise Science.
If you would have asked me 10 years ago if there were any benefits to being young, I probably would have laughed in your face.

When you are young, you sit around and imagine what life will be like when you are old enough to make your own decisions. (At least I did.)
You imagine that it will be pothole free.
Roadblock free.
Landslide free.
Practically perfect in every way.

You never imagine that potholes, roadblocks and landslides will be a daily part of live. But they are.

So please, little ones, don't wish your life away. Don't imagine your life away. Just enjoy being young.

Five Minute Friday: View

A few days before I left my hometown to come help my cousin several hundered miles away, I took this picture and posted it on Instagram. It is the view out my bedroom window. I love this view. It brings back so many happy memories. Long summer hours spent in the pool with cousins and friends. Summer mornings and evenings spent bucking hay in the field. Beautiful rides through the snow with my horse. And while I love this view so very much and can't wait to get back to it, I have started to really love another view.

I took this picture out my bedroom window a few days later. Different window, different town, different state, different bedroom, different memories, and yet it is still a beautiful view that I love.