My story in 6 little words

As you know if you've been following me recently, I am involved in lots and lots of creating endeavors. Kim Klassen has challenged us (her peeps) to consider telling our creative stories in a six word memoir. In addition, I had a Flickr friend challenge me to doing a photo project that could answer the question, Who Am I? I'm still contemplating the latter, but for now I'll address the six little words.

My first, off-the-top-of-my-head effort, which reflects the entire timeline of my life.

Left alone. Adopted. Loved. Left alone. 

The second left alone represented that my parents are now gone.
I decided I didn't want that to sum up my life, so I changed it to:
 
Left alone. Adopted. Loved. Finally dreaming.

As I proceeded through my day, I passed a car with a bumper sticker that truly made me laugh out loud. Odd what strikes our funny bones. Sometimes it is only momentary and later we wonder why we found it funny. This is the case with this, which I also find amusing. Not much of a picture, but it did serve as a foundation for my story.

By the way, did you notice that beautiful sky in the side-view mirror?

And it made me think further--combining the caution sign and my friend, Karen's, What If? exercise. She encourages me to consider "What if [fill in the blank with something good]?"

Caution: What if I might succeed?

I have read that our greatest fear is not that we will fail, but that we might succeed. There are times I think this is exactly the crux of the matter. It is easier to settle for mediocrity, for average, for coasting. If we succeed, we could no longer hang our shingle on blaming someone else. We wouldn't have much to complain about.

And all this takes me farther down the road to:

Proceed bravely. Enjoy the ride. Celebrate!

I love the process of transformation. It can take years and years, but can also happen in the blink of an eye. We get to choose. Sometimes I choose the long road. I think that's because there are many little lessons to encounter along the way.