Life Changing Events * My Entry into Angela's CJ

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Life Changing Events * My Entry into Angela's CJ

**Sorry, I was experiencing technical difficulties. Uggh!** Angela's CJ was gorgeous and I was quite intimidated to add my bit! Her theme was “My Story”. I hope you like it girl! Patterned paper is 7Gypsies, Rubons, decorative brads and flowers are all Making Memories, file folder is Autumn Leaves, ribbon is Stampin Up (gingham) and SEI (solid). Dymo and office supply store stencil. Journalling on the left page reads: Graduations, weddings, the birth of my first child…these were all highly anticipated events, life altering ones. They were extensively planned for, dreamed about, stressed over and expected to be the most exciting days of my life. And then those days passed, and then a few weeks, months and years go by and looking back with fond memories of that day and remembering the excitement it generated, I realize in the big picture that the days in themselves weren’t quite as important as the results of those events and the changes those days brought to my life. I realized this recently when I attended my 18 year old sisters graduation…I saw the time and money invested into this one day, and how excited she was about this big step in her life. It certainly is a big achievement, but looking back, I realized that I had felt exactly the same way and at the time had chalked up that day to the most important one ever in my relatively short life. At this point in my life, that day nine years ago is not nearly as important as I had once thought it was. Other such similarly significant events surpassed it, and in time have also faded somewhat in significance in my memory. But what remains with me are the effects of each of those events and the changes that resulted in my life with each milestone I passed. Sometimes I think that I may have already experienced many of the major events of my life. As I settle into early adulthood, I wonder what is yet ahead of me. I’m hoping that what lies before me is happiness, but I also know that there may be a few bumps and bruises along the way. I’m sure life has a few surprises yet in store for me, but I look forward to where the path leads me and for what my life has yet to bring. Tag 1:Graduation was probably one of the first of such important events. It was the moment that I was leaving a large portion of my childhood behind and moving into the adult world. Suddenly the familiarity of everything I had known over the previous 12 years was being replaced with new things; A full time job, my first car, paying rent and supporting myself. No more giggling in the hallways or trying to avoid being caught smoking behind the school. Instead I had to be an adult (or at least pretend to be one most of the time). While graduation in itself was an important milestone, a result of (mostly) hard work, the changes that this day brought were much more life impacting than the day itself. Tag 2: The next and even more life-changing event was my wedding day. Marriage is not something that I take lightly, and when I said my vows that day it was a little overwhelming to realize that this really was a life long commitment, “’til the day I die” was (hopefully) a very long time. I remember my Dad telling me before he walked me down the aisle that I could still back out if I wanted to…and that he and I would go away together if I didn’t want to go through with the wedding. While most people might have thought that this was an odd thing to say, to me it brought peace and knowing that I didn’t have to take the escape hatch only strengthened my resolve to constantly work to have a healthy, happy marriage. It’s been 6 years since that day, and while we’ve certainly had our ups and downs, there is no doubt in my mind of the lifetime commitment that we made to each other. Tag 3: Probably the most radical change in my life was the birth of my son. The process changed me irrevocably, to the very core of my being. The awe I felt after the birth of my son was beyond anything I could have imagined. Suddenly my life wasn’t solely about me, or me and my husband, or me and my job. I had a child whose needs were above and beyond my own and I realized that I would do anything for him. Anything. They say life can change in an instant, and that was my biggest life-changing moment. The bond between a parent and child is different than with anyone else…it surpasses parents, siblings and spouse in such a way I didn’t think was possible. I will be a mother until the day I die and my life is forever linked with that of my child. Thanks for looking! Rachel :)