Wealth

I was sitting in my room today sorting Legos and thinking about how wealthy I felt at that moment…the amount of Legos I have is how I measure how wealthy I am.  I realized that I should feel wealthy, but not because of the amount of Legos I have (though I have a lot), because I have everything I ever wanted as a child. 

 When I was a little girl I did what all little girls do, dreamt of what my life would be like when I grew up.  I wanted to be a mom, I wanted to marry a red-head (I had a thing for Raggety Andi), I wanted a house where I could have all the things I loved around me, and I was pretty sure I wanted a dog.  I realized today that despite the many setbacks in my life, I have all those things and then some!  I am truly a wealthy woman, and I am extraordinarily grateful for the many blessings that I have.  I have a red headed husband, I have 2 gorgeous children, I have a house bigger than I ever imagined, and I have a dog who is so devoted to me that he follows me everywhere.  We have money enough for our needs and many of our wants.  We have family who love us and we love them.  And more than anything we have each other, and that is where real wealth comes from.

I grew up in a poor family (monetarily speaking), but everyone thought we were wealthy because we were happy.  I really didn’t know that we were poor until I was almost in Jr High school.  My mother gave me a sweater that had rainbow bears on it; I loved it more than I can put into words.  I was so excited to wear it to church, and one of the fancy girls told me that it used to be hers in front of all the other girls.  I felt like I was naught but a street wretch, and for the first time in my life I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were indeed poor.  That was the first time in my young life that I felt poor, and like I wasn’t as good as the other girls.  I don’t think I ever wore the sweater again, and I cried over it…a lot.  I think that is when I actually wondered if I was in fact going to have all those things I dreamed of having, and I think it took me a while to realize that God doesn’t care if you have a hand-me-down sweater or not.  

 I will admit that there were some years that I stopped dreaming, and even believed that God would not allow me the joy of having my dreams realized…I thought that would be my punishment.  Then in the most unexpected way Ryane stepped into my life and I started dreaming again.  Now over 6 years later I have all my childhood dreams raining around me because of this man.  And right now I love him more now than I ever dreamed that I could love someone, and I am realizing that I love him because he loves me for who I am.  I don’t love him because he gave me those things that I dreamed would make me wealthy and happy…I love him simply because he loves me and that is enough to make me the wealthiest woman on this earth.

 I have a man who loves me enough to share his toys and makes me want to share mine.  I have 2 gorgeous children who, for some odd reason, think that I am the greatest mom in the world.  I have a house that I always believed was a mansion where rich people lived.  And to top it off I have over 5 boxes of Legos!  This is truly childhood dreaming come true! 

 Here’s to dreaming, here’s to believing, and here’s to loving, because the Beatles were right…”all you need is love”.  Thanks to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have these joys, and thanks to Ryane for making my dreams a reality!