Chances are the way your life looks now is completely upside down from how a younger you pictured it. Very rarely do things work out exactly as we plan them. Life happens, love happens, and things change – it’s just a fact of life. I can distinctly remember walking on a beach with a good friend of mine years ago. He asked, “Do you think you’ll ever move back to Iowa?”
“No.” I didn’t even have to think about it. I knew my life was in California. I had a wonderful group of friends that were family to me, I loved my life, and I was on my way to finishing my degree in psychology. I knew there was nothing that could uproot me…or so I thought.
When I was pregnant with Charlie, I typed out this ridiculously detailed birth plan and printed it on fancy paper with palm trees on it – like labor was going to somehow be comparable to a day at the beach. HA! I guess I was going for peaceful vibes. I handed out my fancy plan to pretty much everyone who would have contact with me at the hospital. I read numerous books on child birth and parenting while I waited for the big day. But with all the books I read, I never once even skimmed the chapter on cesarean. I was absolutely not going to have a c-section. It was not in my plan and it was just not something that was going to happen to me. After 20 hours of labor, Charlie was born via emergency c-section. I remember crying before surgery, but the moment I saw my son I didn’t care about my plan anymore. He was perfect and in my arms – it didn’t matter how he got there. The c-section is a part of Charlie’s story not because I planned it, but because it is the story that life wrote.
There are lessons to be learned from every turning point and significant event in our lives. We just need to be willing to look for the good and take the lesson with us. We can’t plan everything that happens to us, but we can control how we react and choose to change our path.
Today I live in an amazing little community in Iowa. I have my own business that I truly love. I married the lifeguard I had a crush on in 6th grade at my hometown pool. We are completely crazy about each other and have two perfect children together. If you would have told me all this 10 years ago, I would have said you were nuts. I’m so very glad life doesn’t care about my plans. I’ve learned to stop planning every detail and just live. When I look to the future now, I see myself happy. Not in a certain place at a certain time – just simply happy. I will adjust with the ebb and flow of life to make sure I end up there.
