Best Life Dream Story

Have you ever had a dream that, upon waking, was so strongly imprinted upon you, that months later it was impacting your thoughts and life? Some people believe that such dreams represent
God talking to us. 

My whole idea of living my best life came from such a dream. And, yes, it may have been God
talking to me as I haven’t been able to let go of the concept. As I have shared my thoughts with
others, they, too, have embraced this direction. 

The Dream

My dream was sometime in 2022. I didn’t record the date as, at the time, I was unaware of what
it might morph into. The dream was about my mother, leading Christian female speaker Florence
Littauer. Like most dreams, I do not remember all the details, but she was in heaven. I clearly
recognized that she was my mother—though she was not the elderly woman I cared for in her
last couple years of life. Nor was she the larger-than-life stage presence many people remember
her as. It is hard to describe, but I was left feeling that the person in my dream was my mother at
her “best life.” Though I have no biblical backing for this, I woke up thinking that when we are
in heaven, the person we will be will not be us as teenagers or elderly folks in our last days, but
whoever we were when we were at our best. Then I had an epiphany: when I am in heaven, I
want to be who I am now—because I am living my best life! This me—the sixty-four-year-old
remodeling contractor living in Lubbock, Texas, married to Chuck Tedder. The one who has lots
of girlfriends who enrich my life. The Marita who is living a life she never planned for or
expected—a life that is so different from who I was for most of my adult life. The reinvented
Marita. Not the semi-famous author of 20 books who regularly stood on the stage in front of
hundreds of people and occasionally thousands. Not the TV and radio talk show guest. Not the
leader of Christian women. 

Best-Life focus

I began to incorporate the “living my best life” focus into my conversations and my Facebook
posts. When asked: “How are you?” I surprised grocery store clerks and food servers, just to
name a few, by saying: “I’m living my best life”—though I couldn’t really articulate exactly
what that was or meant. I just knew it to be true. 

Enter Ms Senior America

A few months after my dream, in late October 2022, I got a call from Debbie Robbins. I knew
her from my Christian speaker/writer life and, through Facebook, we’d stayed in touch. During
the waning days of my mother’s life, Debbie even helped me with the verbiage for the new
website I was creating to carry on my mother’s legacy: ThePersonalities.com. Debbie called me
to tell me she’d just been crowned Ms. Senior America. She said God had given her a platform
and she felt she needed to do something with it. She asked for my advice. Should she write a
book? I discouraged the book idea as by the time it was written and published, her reign would
be over. I encouraged a blog and told her about my dream. We both got excited about the idea of
encouraging senior women to live their best life! The brainstorming was fast and furious. This is
the first thing in the Christian/personal growth arena that excited me in nearly twenty years. We
hung up from the call and did nothing about it. Life went on.

My Sister Came Onboard

In early November, I enjoyed a Hawaiian vacation with my sister: Lauren Littauer Briggs—the
first we’d ever taken together. As we got reacquainted, I told her about my best-life dream and
realization and my conversation with Debbie, about the potential for a blog—maybe a podcast
and/or YouTube channel. Lauren, too, embraced the idea—so much so that she quickly reached
out to her son and had him purchase the domain name “LivingYourBestLife60Plus.com.” 

We Teamed Up

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Lauren, Debbie, and I had a conference call about the potential
project. We were reinvigorated that we needed to do something with “living your best life.” Then
Christmas got in the way. 

More Encouragement

In early January, my friend Patti came to visit from Albuquerque—where I used to live. During
the few days she was here, we had many discussions. One was about her sister who had moved
to a new town and didn’t have any friends. Patti asked how I’d developed such a great group of
girlfriends in my new hometown of Lubbock. We talked. I realized what I shared with her was
really a blog post! I told her about my best-life dream. 

Next, I reached out to the web designer with whom I’d Zoomed in early December. And here we
are. 

The Best-Life Project is Born

We don’t know where this is going, but we invite you to follow along! We want to address a
variety of topics relevant to those of us women who are over 60—living in the sweet spot of life
where we have the intersection of health, time, and resources. We plan to involve others from
our Christian speaker/writer network. Please sign up to receive updates and follow our Facebook
page.

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Marita has spent the majority of her adult life working with women—helping them improve relationships, achieve their speaking and writing dreams, and being the best version of themselves they can possibly be. The author of 20 books, this Living Our Best Life Project is her newest effort—through which she hopes to challenge women to be fulfilled where they are.