Monday, February 22, 2010

Let me be interesting

We recently had some boundary changes in our stake that resulted in almost doubling the ward we are now in. The Relief Society scheduled an activity where people could get to know each other, a "speed friendshipping" with refreshments. It's the same idea as speed dating, but you don't get any dates out of it.

It made us talk to a lot of people within a short period of time. They provided question prompts if we needed them or we could talk about whatever we wanted. One of the questions was about hobbies and interests. I came home and told HP to make sure I'm more interesting than just kids and scrapbooking.

Now, I fully expect to be interested in my kids lives and be a part of what they do and support them in whatever interests they have. And I have nothing against scrapbooking either. But is that really all some people can say about themselves?

There are certainly exceptions, but I feel that one of the blessings of not getting married when I was 18 was that I had more than a decade to figure out who I am as an adult, to develop my life, to build interests, to even have a few interests that I'm no longer interested in. I've developed a pattern of noticing the world and being a part of what's going on around me. I read books on different subjects. I enjoy watching Nova on PBS. I keep up to date on the latest news around the world. When HP and I went out for a Valentine dinner last week, the conversation hit on so many topics I couldn't count them. I hope our dates out always involve more topics than the kids and the shopping list.

Just let me always be interesting.