Plans

I often think about my life circumstances in amazement.  I really love most things about my life right now.  Don't get me wrong, of course my life is not perfect.   But I am very happy with where we are right now on so many levels.

Then I think about how I had imagined my life would be when I was younger.  I don't think that there is much about my current life that resembles the life I had planned.  And I am very glad for that.

For instance, I had always imagined that the man of my dreams would be a musician.  And while Mike can carry a tune and does enjoy music, he can't read a note or play an instrument.  Yet he is my very best friend and the most wonderful daddy in the whole world.  Not that it was love at first sight.  Can you believe that I actually walked away from him the first time we were introduced by a friend trying to set us up?  It wasn't so much that I walked away from Mike but that I was embarrassed by the situation and also happened to be dating someone else at the time.  True story.  However, a year later he won me over easily and the rest is history.

I had also sworn when I was about 15 years old that I wouldn't even consider marriage until I was at least 25.   Now here I am at 31 years old, and I have been married for over 12 years already.  And I wouldn't give up a single day of those 12 years.

After high school, I headed off to college to become a physical therapist.  A couple of years into school,  some family members asked if I had ever considered becoming a physician assistant.  I was not interested, thank you very much, and I was honestly a bit put off by their unsolicited advice.  But I started weighing the option a bit more in my head until I realized that it truly was a better career fit for me. 

During PA school,  I was certain that I would go into family practice once I graduated.  I wasn't interested in orthopedics or surgery for that matter (I actually almost passed out the first time I scrubbed into surgery- and I haven't told many people that before).  I chose only to have a 2-week rotation in orthopedics so that I could focus more on family practice rotations.  Then I got to my rotation where I met an amazing surgeon whose love for orthopedics was contagious.  I worked with him from September of 2003 until we moved back to Minnesota last fall.   I continue to practice in orthopedics and love my days in the operating room more than any other part of my job.

Also during PA school,  Mike and I drove down to Las Vegas for a spring break getaway one year.  We weren't too won over by the city on that visit.  I even particularly remember telling Mike that I could never live there and would definitely never consider having kids there.  Just under 3 years later, we were buying a house in Sin City!  Five years and 2 kids later, we made the big decision to leave a town and friends that we had grown to love.

I also never thought I would live in the country, and I definitely was not going to live within an hour of my in-laws (never mind less than a mile apart or in the same house for 4 months).  But every time I look out the window at our beautiful surroundings or see the kids run to Grandpa and Grandma with outstretched arms, I am wholly thankful that life has not turned out the way I planned.  

I have so far remained true to my vow to never drive a minivan.  I am also pretty certain that I will never desire to be pregnant again.  But only time will tell...

There are three points to my post, three things I need to be reminded of daily:

1. Never say never.

2. Bloom where you are planted.

3. God knows best.

I am reminded when I see the flowers pictured above, petunias that I did not plant but that voluntarily filled my front flower garden and continue to bloom heartily well into fall, that sometimes the unexpected things in life are the most beautiful.