raison d'être

A big part of the book my program just read, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, included Raison d'êtres or reasons to live. The main character Oskar, listed his reasons for living, which included his family, collecting stamps, and for the most part making people happy (protecting his mom, making his mom happy, and not hurting his grandmother's feelings.)  “I didn't want to hurt her feelings, because not hurting her feelings is another of my raisons d’etre” (100).

Reading this gave me the idea to list my Raison d'êtres, so that I can look back and see what's important to me. 

• Friends 
• Family 
• Spending time with my god mother
• Listening/seeing music
• art
• theatre
• The beach
• Grandpa's hunting camp
• creating
• volunteering
• Writing 
• Babysitting
• Reading

So that's pretty much it, although I'm sure there's more I can't think of, and there's more to come. 

It's important to remember that we do have reasons to live, and that we shouldn't forget them as we grow and change. 

Here's my favorite song from the ELAIC sound track: 

Here's the trailer: