Neighbor Grandparents

They loved deeply. Slowly. Steadily. They were always there. They were constant. Steadfast. Friendly & funny.

They loved consistently:
Always there to open the door for a small scared girl who left her key.
Always there for a driveway bike ride loop.
A king sized candy bar on Halloween for a few special kids.
A blue light on the front porch for a neighbor friend.
Sitting in the living room watching TV, reading a book, always there to reassure peeking neighbors that they always had someone to turn to.

And when one wasn't, the other walking by on a daily trip to the cemetery for a visit.

My neighbor grandparents, who weren't my grandparents, but were. Neighbors who were always there for graduation parties and weddings. Musicals and life events. And the small things. Bike rides, Halloween, Christmas cookies. Always quiet, consistent reassuring. Never second-guessed.

On Achieving Your Goals

These few weeks have been full of good things: visiting camp, spending time with friends (old and new), and most excitingly crossing things off of my 25 Things Before 25 List. For some reason, this list was oddly emotional to make. I always felt like making goals was just setting myself up to not finish them, and so I never wanted to make goals because I didn't want to disappoint myself even more. The list making started off as a light-hearted thing among friends, but as I was sitting there, I couldn't think of things that I wanted, but also didn't want to allow myself to be disappointed about. Then I realized these goals, this list, was a gift I was giving myself. I was giving myself 25 adventures to enjoy. And if I didn't make it, it didn't matter because I simply was giving myself the opportunity.

At first, I wasn't sure why this list was cause for such emotion, but I figured it out....

Anyways! I'm beginning to cross things off, and that is so exciting. So far I have:

1. I've been on Weight Watchers for 1 month.
2. I've read 2 books.
3. I got to the top of my tree climbing rope at camp!!
4. I went camping with friends.

So really, I've crossed two things off, and I'm partly done with the first two listed.

Now a word about the success of my list:

I never thought I would get to the top of my tree climbing rope. I put this on my list thinking I'd get it done at the very end of the 2 years before 25. This means that I pulled myself up about 30 feet into a tree. It was incredible. I wanted to quit a few times, but my friends wouldn't let me (quite frankly I would have quit without them). I think this happened for a reason. That was the hardest thing on the list in my eyes, except for maybe staying on Weight Watchers. The rest of the list is cake (okay, maybe reading 100 books will be more difficult than I bargained for... But if I make it to 55, I'll be happy). Now that I've done that, I know I can do any of the other things.

I have always been a big advocate for goal-setting, but not the best goal setter myself because of reasons listed above. I was scared of disappointment. I was too hard on myself. If this is you, listen to me: if you set goals, you are not allowed to beat yourself up if you try hard and don't reach your goals. If you work your butt off, give it your all, and still fall short, get back up and try again. Feel defeated for only a moment, get up, dust yourself off, and try harder. See your goals as a gift to get yourself motivated, not a beacon of disappointment. You should only be disappointed if you don't give all you've got, and even then, you should still get back up and try again. Learn from your mistakes.

But overall, be kind to yourself. You goals are there to make you a better you. Let them do that!