My Purpose Driven Life

I, like most people, have wondered about my purpose in life. I guess it's my age and the need to reflect on the meaning of my life. I even read the book A Purpose Driven Life, well really only the first few chapters because I find that books like that say all they need to say in the first few chapters and then it gets redundant. But I ponder now and then what my purpose is in life. I have never done anything remarkable. I didn't go to college, didn't have a great career, haven't traveled much, I'm not very ambitious-maybe a tad bit lazy. So you see I really have struggled a bit with my mark on the world. Working with kids is very satisfying but the reality is with kids is they soon forget you. I once got an email from a high school teacher that said her students had an assignment to write to an educator that had made a difference in their life. One student chose me. I was very flattered and waited eagerly for the letter to arrive. Well it arrived all right but all the things he remembered about me never happened and his spelling was so bad I am reluctant to say I worked with him. But I enjoy being with the kids and figure that if I am just a kind person they see every day that's good enough....but not going to change the world.
As I struggle with my purpose in life I also struggle with my obsession with animals. I feel like Noah as he collected animals two by two for the ark. I am on a mission to stock my own private petting farm. I can see it now, pens of animals with signs on each pen explaining what kind of animal it contains. I mean really,who doesn't like a petting farm? When I had my 4H club and took them to the fair the kids all raced down to the petting farm to sign up to work. It was a high priority that they worked hard in fitting around their showing schedule.
So to make a short story-long, I had a few visitors this weekend to the farm. First I had Clare and her delightful grandkids. They met all the animals with carrots and cookies. We walked around and petted and fed and then petted some more. All that was missing was the signs on all the pens telling what they contained. I loved sharing my farm with these well mannered kids and spending some time with my blogging friend.
The icing on the cake was when the sweet little 4 year old boy called out,
"I love you" as he climbed into the car. I will never forget the look on his face. Sheer delight. To see pictures go to Clare's blog...just remember if I'd have known she was taking pictures of me I'd have ducked, or at least done something with my hair.
My next visitor was my great nephew who always asks to spend the night when he comes over. Now I know with him the biggest pull is his uncle (Hubby) that takes him on a motorcycle ride and the longer he is here the more rides he gets.

But he loves to work on the farm with the animals.
He is a very capable boy and I can give him some tasks and he is sure to get it done. We built a big fire and cleaned up sticks and branches that had fallen over the winter. Now what boy do you know doesn't like a fire and a good pokin' stick? He must have fed the animals 10 times and had enough energy to wear out the black Lab we nicknamed Turbo. Needless to say I was exhausted.
But as he climbed in the car to go home he rolled down his window and said...
"I love you"
It may not change the world but this is my purpose and I shall embrace it.