Last week I found out why I've been so dog tired for the last little while.
Mono. I first got it thirteen years ago, and since then the virus has been dormant in my system. Like a volcano, it is now active and wreaking havoc on my body.
While I was bedridden, I posted on Facebook that my plans had to be drastically altered from what I'd originally intended to do during the week. One of my friends commented, "You know what they say about the 'Best-laid plans of Mice and Men.'"
That got me thinking about all the plans I've had throughout my life, and the things that have happened to interrupt them.
Let's start when I was eleven years old. I lived in a suburb of Sacramento, California. Friends...check. Temperate climate...check. Was I looking forward to attending middle school and high school there? Absolutely. Then a change of careers had my family moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, on the eve of sixth grade. To say this was a hard move would be a HUGE understatement. To say I liked Utah's cold winters would be LYING. I hated them. And being extremely shy, I had a hard time making new friends.
My plan: No WAY was I living in Utah any longer than I had to. I was moving away first chance I got, as soon as I went to college.
So what happened to my plan? When I was a senior in high school, I applied to many out-of-state schools, including the University of Hawaii and Pepperdine. I got into every college I applied to. Some of the schools, like Pepperdine, were REALLY expensive and I couldn't imagine how my parents were going to pay for them. Some of the schools, like the University of Hawaii, were so far away that my parents said I could only come home during the summer. So I had to think about what I really needed, not just what I thought I wanted. I NEEDED a small, private school that I wouldn't get lost in. I NEEDED to see my family often, because I knew I was the type to get homesick. So I chose to stay in Salt Lake and go to Westminster College, which met both of my needs.
Sure, once in a while I WONDER what my life would have been like had I gone away to school. But I KNOW what my life is like because I chose to stay at home. And it makes me smile.
Moving on, to when I was nineteen years old. Ask anybody who knew me back then and they'll tell you I wasn't going to get married until I was AT LEAST twenty-six years old. My plan: finish college first, go on a mission for my church and then work for a few years before I met Mr. Right.
Of course you're going to ask what happened, right? I didn't get married when I was twenty-six. I was set up on a blind date with a terrific guy named Nate. We dated for a year and somehow I knew that my "plan" had to be thrown out the window. Because Mr. Right showed up way earlier than he was supposed to.
Do I WONDER what my life would have been like had we met when I was a few years older? Not really, because I got to graduate college with my best friend by my side. And travel to places like Europe, Canada, Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii with my best friend.
When my husband and I had been married five years, owned a house and had a one-year-old son, we were infected with the opposite of island fever. Our plan: we desperately wanted to move to Hawaii. For at least a year or two, anyway.
Did it happen? We networked for some time, but jobs were scarce and our willingness to live on less-than-ideal means was not very high. In the end, we've never been more than tourists in Hawaii.
Sometimes I WONDER what it would have been like to move to a tropical island. But then I think about the roller coaster economy, and realize I have a comfortable house, and my kids go to a great school, and I KNOW that my happiness doesn't depend on WHERE I live.
Interestingly, as I think back on the "best laid plans" that went awry, I also remember the plans that I succeeded in accomplishing. Like graduating from college in only three years. And traveling around the world. And writing not just one, but multiple novels. And being a wife and mom.
One thing I've learned from making plans...Life defines who you become, not your plans.
Mono. I first got it thirteen years ago, and since then the virus has been dormant in my system. Like a volcano, it is now active and wreaking havoc on my body.
While I was bedridden, I posted on Facebook that my plans had to be drastically altered from what I'd originally intended to do during the week. One of my friends commented, "You know what they say about the 'Best-laid plans of Mice and Men.'"
That got me thinking about all the plans I've had throughout my life, and the things that have happened to interrupt them.
Let's start when I was eleven years old. I lived in a suburb of Sacramento, California. Friends...check. Temperate climate...check. Was I looking forward to attending middle school and high school there? Absolutely. Then a change of careers had my family moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, on the eve of sixth grade. To say this was a hard move would be a HUGE understatement. To say I liked Utah's cold winters would be LYING. I hated them. And being extremely shy, I had a hard time making new friends.
My plan: No WAY was I living in Utah any longer than I had to. I was moving away first chance I got, as soon as I went to college.
So what happened to my plan? When I was a senior in high school, I applied to many out-of-state schools, including the University of Hawaii and Pepperdine. I got into every college I applied to. Some of the schools, like Pepperdine, were REALLY expensive and I couldn't imagine how my parents were going to pay for them. Some of the schools, like the University of Hawaii, were so far away that my parents said I could only come home during the summer. So I had to think about what I really needed, not just what I thought I wanted. I NEEDED a small, private school that I wouldn't get lost in. I NEEDED to see my family often, because I knew I was the type to get homesick. So I chose to stay in Salt Lake and go to Westminster College, which met both of my needs.
Sure, once in a while I WONDER what my life would have been like had I gone away to school. But I KNOW what my life is like because I chose to stay at home. And it makes me smile.
Moving on, to when I was nineteen years old. Ask anybody who knew me back then and they'll tell you I wasn't going to get married until I was AT LEAST twenty-six years old. My plan: finish college first, go on a mission for my church and then work for a few years before I met Mr. Right.
Of course you're going to ask what happened, right? I didn't get married when I was twenty-six. I was set up on a blind date with a terrific guy named Nate. We dated for a year and somehow I knew that my "plan" had to be thrown out the window. Because Mr. Right showed up way earlier than he was supposed to.
Do I WONDER what my life would have been like had we met when I was a few years older? Not really, because I got to graduate college with my best friend by my side. And travel to places like Europe, Canada, Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii with my best friend.
When my husband and I had been married five years, owned a house and had a one-year-old son, we were infected with the opposite of island fever. Our plan: we desperately wanted to move to Hawaii. For at least a year or two, anyway.
Did it happen? We networked for some time, but jobs were scarce and our willingness to live on less-than-ideal means was not very high. In the end, we've never been more than tourists in Hawaii.
Sometimes I WONDER what it would have been like to move to a tropical island. But then I think about the roller coaster economy, and realize I have a comfortable house, and my kids go to a great school, and I KNOW that my happiness doesn't depend on WHERE I live.
Interestingly, as I think back on the "best laid plans" that went awry, I also remember the plans that I succeeded in accomplishing. Like graduating from college in only three years. And traveling around the world. And writing not just one, but multiple novels. And being a wife and mom.
One thing I've learned from making plans...Life defines who you become, not your plans.
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