Speaking of Sarah Palin...

The thing is, she makes me feel like a slacker.

She's about my age (not exactly, but we would have been in high school together), has five kids including a nursing baby, and is the Republican VP candidate, having been Governor and Mayor.

I, on the other hand, have five kids including a nursing baby, and, uh, am still trying to figure out when I'm going to get a shower today.

What's up with that? Where did I go wrong? I was on the path to the White House, at least in my own mind, at least through high school. I loved being Student Council President, then went off to UT all on fire to join Student Senate and every other club I could squeeze into my schedule, all with the idea that I could change the world. If I'd stayed on that path, I'd probably have connected with some Texas politician and be working in Washington right now. Like, maybe have Condi Rice's job, ya think?

Well, what happened to me? Here's what, I think: My dad died. (On a more sobering note--sorry!) Right at the end of my first year of college. And after that, all that student government and club-joining kinda got derailed; it just seemed like a waste of time. "Life is short," I realized. So I changed my idea of how to make my mark in the world. Now it's more immediate, and closer. I'm thinking eternity, and the closest thing we have to eternity is the precious souls that are close to us. My little peeps here at home, all around me. And all my dear friends and family.

That's not to say, by the way, that Sarah Palin can't do both eternity and country-leading. It seems she has a pretty decent handle on it, after all. (Did you notice her smiling, supportive, alive parents sitting in the front row at the convention?) It's just that I can't do both, or at least that I'm not doing both. God has a special, unique plan for each one of us, and I'm just trying to live mine. It seems like Sarah Palin is doing the same, I suppose (although she hasn't figured out which is the true Church, :) obviously!).

With that, I must go clean up the dishes from my little eternal beings' breakfast...