inspiration comes in mysterious ways. this morning i sat in the marriott center with my coworkers to enjoy one of byu's weekly devotionals. well, this week it was actually a forum. byu invited
micheal flaherty, president and co-founder of
walden media, to speak to university employees and students.
walden media has produced films i'm sure you'll recognize such as the
chronicles of narnia series, amazing grace, holes, and charlotte's web. walden media's mission is "to recapture imagination through the development and production of family films and literature."
flaherty discussed the great influence media can have on people for good, as well as for evil. he told of an experience he had as a younger man when he was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life (everyone raise your hand if you're in that boat). he was volunteering somewhere (i don't remember where) and teaching junior-high aged kids math and grammar on saturdays. he would always start out his class by asking the kids about their weekend. they usually had spent their fridays watching a movie or some television show. the students would recount stories of the latest film and whether or not they had enjoyed it. one saturday, two girls excitedly told him about
titanic, the latest film they had seen the night before. the next saturday they told him they had seen
titanic again. the following saturday they had more titanic news for him. but they hadn't seen the film again, they had gone to a museum and learned about the real titanic, the lives of the people on board, had thrust their hands into water the temperature it would have been on that cold night, and discussed what they would do if they were in that kind of situation. flaherty was impressed how this film had taught these girls something just as important as math or grammar. it had taught them to ask the bigger questions, to develop
compassion and
curiosity.
so even though he knew nothing about starting a business or making a movie, flaherty and his friend decided to found a company that was dedicated to inspiring and teaching. and i would say that he has been pretty successful in his venture. it is always inspiring to see what a little bit of hard work and big dreaming can do. it made me realize that i could do that too. i've got a lot of
passion bottled up inside here and i am
dying to find a way to release it!
i texted my friend lindsey right in the middle of his lecture. he wasn't even half way through but i was feeling the spirit and i was so excited.
oh, a little background. lindsey and i have been friends for about ten years now and we've done a lot of dreaming together. our dreams ranged from finding a way to meet and woo jonny depp, the love of our lives, to flying to europe in search of a perfect castle we could purchase and turn into a home and school for orphans, to making plans for college, to what we'll wear on our wedding days, to opening a chocolaterie in france, to touring the world, one continent at a time, to becoming a photographer and writer for national geographic, to living next door to each other for the rest of our lives, and beyond. about anything you can think of to dream about, we dreamt.
and we have accomplished a lot of those dreams. we started our world tour with a trip to italy together (many more countries to follow, hopefully). we made it into byu and even made it to graduation. we played hard and studied hard as well. one of us went on a mission while the other found herself a hubby. we've even grown out of our love for jonny depp and are starting to act somewhat like adults. i'd say that we've accomplished a lot in our lives.
but both of us still want to do more. there is so much more that we wanted to accomplish and we know that we can do it. we just have a little trouble starting off. this forum address by michael flaherty reminded me that success really is possible and that good, inspiring ideas can have a huge
impact on the world. so i texted linds right in the middle of the forum and told her that we are going to start living our dreams, and we are going to start right now!
get your thinking cap on linds, we're
gonna start dreaming!!!
last week i flew to appleton, wisconsin to visit my sister and her family. i'm not quite sure what i expected from wisconsin, but this is what i got! farm land and dilapidated houses line the freeways and wisconsin cheese signs greet weary traveler indicating that civilization is near. this dilapidated house happened to be my favorite. i spotted it as we drove from the dells to madison. (on the drive back i waited with anticipation and my camera ready to be sure i captured this gem.) it was my first taste of what my sister calls normal for wisconsin. apparently, demolishing houses is quite expensive, so farmers simply abandon their old abodes and build a new home right next door. 
