Life Is A Journey- Thank You For Letting Me Journey With You!

I can honestly say that I am who I am today because of the wonderful John and Anne Richards Family! (Lt to Rt Jason, Jennifer, Anne, Kari, John).  I was blessed to have had their influence and learned many good character traits from them along the way.  



Where do I even begin?

• Kari and I learned the meaning of friendship.  We navigated the evil waters of teenage dating together.  Kari is one of my Always friends- Time and distance come and go, but we are always connected in our hearts.  For ever and always- the quilts of our lives are inter woven in many ways!  Resourcefulness- Is the greatest gift you have ever given me.  We think outside of the box.  The best adventures begin that way!
• Anne is my ideal mother figure! (Sorry MOM)  I have never seen her overcome by parental frustration or heard her raise her voice in a yell.  She is calm, cool, collected and fun!  She has celebrated and supported me from training bra to new mother and homeowner.  She gives great advice and always lets people know that she treasures them in her life!  Thank you for the living example you have been to me!  If I can be half as level headed and supportive to my Emma then I think we will get out of childhood unscathed! 
• John was always the life of the party.  I can remember I thought he was "quiet" at first.  I quickly learned some "need to know information about the Yankees" and he talked to me a lot more after that.   Baseball playoffs were times of great fun at the Richards house.  John was quick to voice his pride in academic accomplishment and over the years he cheered many young family friends to chase their dreams and shoot for the stars!  I can clearly see myself sitting with him one summer evening waiting for Kari to get home from a shift as Super Duper (real blast from the past).  It was shortly after I lost my father.  John and I talked about both of our fathers and he reinforced how proud of me my father was.   It was a great pep talk to keep chasing my dreams and achieve my goals.  Mutual loss and lonesomeness bonded us that night.  Thank you for tolerating Kari &  Carrie in the kitchen!  I know we fed you some slop over the years, but  you ate it and praised us anyways! 
• Jason and Jenny- Thank you for the experience of having an older brother and younger sister.  So many great memories! 
• I can't complete this post without acknowledging some Richards family pets that have been near and dear to my heart.....Beauty, Donald (the sneezing snot throwing cat), Horses (trips to the barn in all kinds of weather bright and early builds good character!)

Life Is A Journey

Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to desecration
and then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or
from strength to weakness
and often back again;
From health to sickness
and we pray to health again.
From offense to forgiveness
from loneliness to love
from joy to gratitude
from pain to compassion
from grief to understanding
from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat
until looking backwards or ahead
We see that victory lies not
at some high point along the way
but in having made the journey
step by step
a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey;
A sacred journey to life everlasting.

With Love,

Carrie