A McIntire

I wrote this blog about 2 months ago when my Grandma McIntire passed but never posted it!! I wanted to make sure and get it up on here before I posted anything else!!

I have always been extremely proud to be a McIntire. I come from an amazing line of ancestors (on both sides of my family) and I am so grateful and proud to come from such a great heritage from both my mother and my father's line of ancestry. Through the stories that have been passed down and even journal entries that I've been able to read I am constantly amazed and inspired by the people in my blood line. I always hope that bits and pieces of their characters and personalities were carried down and are a part of me. Thinking of them has even helped me to stand a little taller and do things differently knowing who I am representing with my name. I have to say that I am so lucky because this is true about both sides of my family - going down my mothers line as well as my father's, but right now I want to focus on the McIntires, especially my Grandma McIntire.

Her name was (is) Vivian Richardson McIntire and she was probably the sweetest most selfless person that ever lived. She always had a smile on her face and such a sweet presence. My amazing Grandpa McIntire was a fireball and I can imagine she was always the calming factor that he needed from time to time. Although my grandpa died when I was 12 and from stories and faint memories I know what a great man he was- I got to have my grandma for quite some time longer. She died at age 93, 16 years after my grandpa died. Up until about 2 years ago she was running around, living on her own and still so active and sharp. I can only wish for her kind of endurance and health! I think so much of her healthy body came from her healthy mind. She was such a positive and love-filled person. Always with a smile on her face and ready and willing to just laugh at anything. It was funny to see her and my dad like two peas in a pod this last little while when she lived so close to home. He could get her laughing like no other. Even in a rest home with a lot of sadness around her - when she first arrived she said that it was her goal to make other people happy. She said that if she saw anyone by themselves she wanted to talk to them and make them happy. In all the years I've known my Grandma Mac I never once heard her complain. And up until the last time I saw her she was smiling and so quick to giggle at anything. She also had a super silly and sometimes odd sense of humor, which was certainly carried on by my dad and I. I love that about her too!

Although my grandma has passed to the other side she definitely leaves a legacy behind her and such a strong example for others to follow. As my parents were going through her things they found a paper she had written her personal motto and "practice exercises" on. This was something she had written as a young woman and something she tried to live by everyday. They are such simple things, but truly sum up the kind of person she was and the kind of person I want to be. Here is what she wrote:


Practice Exercise
1. I will be as cheerful as possible
2. I will try to feel and act a little more friendly toward other people.
3. I am going to be a little less critical and a little more tolerant of other people, their faults, failings, and mistakes. I will place the best possible interpretation upon their actions.
4. Insofar as possible I am going to act as if success were inevitable and I already am the sort of personality I want to be. I will practice "acting like" and "feeling like" this new personality.
5. I will not let my own opinon color facts in a pessimistic or negative way.
6. I will practice smiling at lease three times during the day.
7. Regardless of what happens, I will react as calmly and as intelligently as possible.
8. I will ignore completely and close my mind to all those pessimistic and negative "facts" which I can do nothing to change.

Read once a day.

How awesome are these little things! It shows her attitude and outlook on life and if these were things we could all do everyday it would make all the difference. The great thing is that she truly did these things and put this into action in her life. She's an inspiration and I'm so grateful for her and all the other amazing examples I have in my life.

Own Up

I think a big part in being confident in who you are and progressing in life is being able to own up to your actions. Whether they be good or bad, but especially when they are bad. We are all imperfect and there will never be a time in our lives when we aren't making mistakes. That is a given. The question becomes whether or not we will be strong enough to own up to these mistakes, do what we can to make them right, and then move forward from them, taking what we've learned and applying it to the future. Once we've made a mistake there's no worse thing we can do than to not own up to it and pretend it didn't happen. Espcially when we may have hurt someone else. It's so important for us to be willing to face them and be willing to bear the consequences that these decisions might bring and do what it takes to make it better to those we may have hurt. This is what will provide us the learning opportunity and this is what will what make us stronger in the future. Mistakes will happen and there is no use in sweeping them under the carpet - we might as well learn something from them right?? The point of living isn't to be perfect, it's to progress and to grow. Mistakes allow us to do that. Hopefully we learn and we make less and less of the same ones, but the important thing is to move forward and continue on with our heads up and with a strong confidence in ourselves knowing that mistakes will be made, but our true character is shown by how we react to them. Own up and move forward.

Nothing's Impossible

You know how I know?
I once saw a YouTube video of a cat and a bird..who are friends.

The Good Life

Read this if you want your life to be enriched: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-divine-gift-of-gratitude?lang=eng&query=divine+gift+gratitude

I am so in love with this talk!!! I've heard it and read it before, but somehow right now it's just so emphatic to me. It was a talk given in 2010 by our amazing LDS prophet Thomas S. Monson. I don't think there's a way to read this talk and not be so incredibly happy and grateful for life in general.

There are definitely two ways you can look at life. You can focus on the negative and the things that you don't have -dwelling in the sadness you have because of the missing pieces. Or you can look at all the wonderful blessings that you have and be incredibly grateful for them and realize that nothing is entitled to us, so any gift we have is a truly a blessing. Just being alive with an opportunity to experience and to grow is a blessing.

I love the warning he gives us in this talk. He says "We never know how soon it will be too late." This is in reference to not appreciating and being grateful for the things we have while we do have them. Although it is eerie sounding I think it is so important that we realize the urgency of recognizing the blessings in our lives because it is all too true, we never know when they could be taken from us. It's so important that we not only realize the blessings and especially the people in our lives who are blessings, but that we also verbalize our gratitude and love for them. Not only verbalize to the important people in our lives how important they are to us and how grateful we are for them, but also verablize to God how grateful we are to Him for allowing them in our lives. The time is always now, we can't risk wishing we would've been more grateful for the things we had when we had them.

I like to think about what life would be like if we NEVER took anything for granted. If we loved every ounce of it and we were always aware of the great things we had. It's like looking at the relationships people have with each other during trials. When someone is diagnosed with cancer or something and they know their time is limited so they don't waste a seconnd of it and make sure that they treat their loved ones the best way possible. I can only imagine if we lived each day like that - making sure that the real important things were prioritized that way and that our love was always outwardly expressed.

The blessing of life is incredible! I can't even begin to count all the small and large things I have been blessed with and I'm sure if we all try to look for things to be grateful for rather than looking for the things that we are without then we will be able to really recognize and feel the beauty of our own lives. If we really count our many blessings, even (and especially) the small things - our entire outlook on life can change for the better. Life is beautiful and the more we can recognize it the happier we will be!

Friends

I once heard that if you can count on one hand five good friends, then you are lucky. Well whoever said that is a total moron. Just kidding. I'm not even sure if anyone has ever said that before, but chances are SOMEONE SOMEWHERE has said that statement. And if they did, then I agree with it...and if no one has said it before then I take credit for its wisdom. Because I love friends...not just the acquaintance type friends that make you feel popular at church or at a LAN party....but the real friends. The good ones, the close ones, the ones that truly make an impact on your life. The ones that really matter. I consider a good friend not only someone that I can have great times with, but someone that I can call up at any time and divulge my every thought and feeling - the good and the bad - and know that not only will they listen, but they will desire to help, love and support me through all of it. It's also someone who can throw you back into reality when perhaps you can't see it...someone who will tell you when your hair looks bad and that you need to "take it out of that dykish pony tail" (direct quote from one of the best). I love feeling close to the people that are important in my life and a part of that is being able to talk to them about things that are near and dear to me. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family in my life who are willing to listen.

There are a few girls out there who know me inside and out and who have helped me through so much in my life. Some of these friends live far away and many I don't see every day, but I always know they are there for me. Honestly I probably would have made some really crazy decisions without them. But then again, they've probably facilitated other pretty crazy decisions as well! I'll list all those crazy decisions out in my next blog post. From the small things in life like needing someone to talk to after losing an intense game of Spider Solitaire to some of the hardest trials in life - I've always had people to pick up the phone and call when I've needed them. Most of the time it's all about laughter and being sarcastic because my friends are hilarious, - but luckily when occasion calls for it in addition to the silliness I can talk about the most serious things in life such as the oil crisis, endangered species and communism in Cuba. Among a few other things, too.


Even if I don't have a million different people I can call friends and even if I'm not voted most popular in this years yearbook - I know that my life is so much more fulfilling and rich because of the few close friends that I do have. If I never made another friend again in my life I still feel like I'd have all the love and support I need because of the life long friends I already have. For that I am so incredibly grateful. Shout out to all my homegirls, including the ones in prison! I love my friends and hope that I can be the kind of friend to others that my friends are to me.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I really hate that song. Don't Worry Be Happy. Sorry Bobby, I don't know why but it really bugs me. But it does have a great message even though the song itself doesn't do it for me. It's a great motto - Don't Worry Be Happy!!!

If there's something in your life that you are frustrated with or that you are unhappy about, do something to fix it! Whatever it may be - job, social life, spirituality, relationships, etc. If you aren't where you want to be then make a plan to fix it! And remember, complaining about problems does not make them go away!! So if you find yourself complaining a lot and not doing anything to fix the situation...then just stop. Please stop. There's no use for that and if you're not making the efforts to make it better then you really have no right to complain...right!?!

Although I know that there are many things in life that we have no control over...I feel just as strongly that there are SOO MANY things in life that we do have FULL control over. So most of the time if we are unhappy or frustrated then it is our own problem and it is up to us to find a solution. Beyond that, when things happen to us that aren't fully in our control that frustrate us I still feel like it doesn't give us justification to settle for unhappiness. Because in these cases we always have the choice of how we will react to the situation.

We get a limited time here in Earth. Why spend a second too long being unhappy? Whatever situation you are in, do everything you can to make it what you want it to be, then just decide to be happy. Never ever settle for unhappiness. Make happiness happen. Listen to more Bobby McFerrin or in my case the Beatles...their music always makes me happy!

I Came To Win

This is going to sound really pathetic. But there is a hip hop/rap song on the radio right now that inspires me. Really, it gets me all emotional and literally makes my eyes tear up everytime I hear it. To be honest I'm not even really sure what the entire song is about, I don't think it's your typical rap song about boats and hoes, but who knows maybe it is and the white girl in me never saw it coming. So maybe I'm crying to a song about a stripper and making love in da club - who knows - but there are some lyrics in the chorus of the song that totally gets to me because I guess I'm applying them to situations in my life past and present. The song is a Nikki Minaj song called "Fly" and the lyrics are these:


"I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly, to fly"

Is anyone else crying right now? Like a pregnant lady watching Little Women, right? Maybe you just have to listen to it. She actually sings it really pretty in the chorus. Hahah I really don't know what it is, but I love the lyrics. It makes me think about life and our purpose of being here. None of us were sent to this Earth to fail or to feel defeated. We all came to win. To conquer, to thrive, survive and prosper. I know that we all have so many times when we feel absolutely defeated and feel like giving up. Well don't. Even if there are things we fail at in life, as long as we pick back up and keep pushing to get through it then we will be victorious. There will be sadness, there will be heartache and hard times, but we came to conquer all of this and to rise above it. So don't let it overcome you and define what your life is. You came to win, so act like it and always be aiming to fly, even when you feel like you're grounded.

I have been inspired by a rap song. My next post will be about how Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back" changed my life back in '92.