Life Changing Moments

Have you ever thought about those moments that change your life?  You know the big ones like turning 16, your graduation from High School. moving out, getting married, having kids, but I think that there are a bunch of small decisions that are also life changing.  This week has been a fabulous one because I got to witness one of those moments for my Mother in Law and I made one for myself.
My Mother in Law is generally quite a pleasant person.  She seems to just bob around life and make the best of her situation.  I rarely hear her complain, and she is always wanting to give people stuff.  This year, I made it a goal to help her clean out her house and in the process I have been able to get to know her better.  She is very social and she loves people and she especially loves her son!  One of the things that I have always wished for my Mother in Law is for her to be able to create some fabulous memories.  She doesn't get to travel very much and she lives in a small town where a lot doesn't happen, so I sometimes think that she misses out on things.
Then everything changed. . .
My mother in law got to run the Olympic Torch.  She wasn't planning on entering the draw, but she got invited and so she did so.  She was chosen to run the torch on Monday morning and that changed everything.  All of a sudden there was a sparkle in her eyes as she talked about things to get ready to run the torch.  She loved talking to the organizers of the run and she would give us every detail about what she had to do and where she had to go and what she had to wear.  My Mother in Law even saved up to buy the torch so that she could have it once the run was over.
So, the morning of the torch run was upon us and all of her children and their families came down to watch her receive the olympic flame.  Because she ran it in a small town, there weren't that many people parked out along the route.  However, she just happened to receive the flame in an intersection that was in between two elementary schools, so there were TONS of children and their teachers on the street.  They had all made some awesome signs and carried flags and were dressed in Red.  When my Mother-in-Law stepped off of the bus, she was so excited and seeing all of those people got her even more excited!  It has been a long time since I have seen a smile like that on her face.  I just couldn't stop taking pictures of her.  Because the streets weren't very crowded, I was able to run ahead of her and get TONS of pictures for her.  I hope that she will have enough pictures to really be able to remember this moment that changed her life.  I know that running the torch was one of the major highlights of her life and that she will be talking about it for years to come.  I am so glad that I got to be part of that moment.
The life changing decision that I had for myself happened the last day in Mexico.  I went there with my mom because she won the trip as a reward for her sales for a company called Heritage Makers.  The trip was so much fun and so relaxing.  I LOVED being there with just my mom because we like to do the same kinds of things.  We were in no rush to cater to anyone else and we spent most of our time just reading books on the beach. . . . .that's a REAL vacation!!!  Because of some conversations with some people that I had at the convention, I decided that becoming a Heritage Makers consultant would be the right thing for me to do.  Heritage Makers is an internet based company that helps you to create books, calendars, home decor, decks of cards, etc to preserve your memories.  One of the things that I love about it is that you don't have to buy software and download it to your computer in order to use it. . . . you just have to have access to the internet so it doesn't take up any space on your hard drive.  I also love how easy it is to use, and I love the projects that I can create with the program. I have created tons of projects with the company over the 20 months that I have had a membership, and I always talk to people about the program, so I truly believe that this is the next logical step for me.  I talked it over with the Big Guy and he encouraged me to do this.  I am really excited to begin and I can't wait for things to get rolling.  My biggest struggle will be to set up appointments for workshops.   I am going to have to start off asking for my friends' help with this, but after a while I know that things will take off on their own.  I have actually been selling Heritage Makers for my mom's store for almost 18 months and I always love watching people get excited about the program and seeing the beautiful books and projects that they can create using this fabulous software.  I always leave my classes excited for my students and inspired to create more projects using this program.  Soooo. . . . . to all of my friends. . . . . if you want to see what this program is about, let me know!  If you host a workshop you can get a bunch of free things to get you introduced to the program, and who knows. . . . you may just fall in love with the program too.