Life is Funny

When I was 13 or 14 years old I wrote out a plan for my life and how I wanted it to go. I don't know if I still have it...but I remember some of it.

I have since learned (though I'm sure I anticipated it...) that life doesn't always go as planned. Or, perhaps getting the things you want doesn't always happen the way you expected. I remember that I wanted to graduate early and attend BYU Hawaii. That didn't happen. I did graduate, but attended another university in Utah where I got my associates degree. I did eventually get my Bachelor’s from BYU Utah. I think I put in my "plan" that I wanted to serve a mission. I remember then not really wanting to, but just feeling deep down that it was something I should do. At 14 I was more interested in getting married than being a missionary. In any case, I did serve a mission, though it wasn't in an exotic place as anticipated. I must say though, that saying I served as a missionary in Utah turns as many heads as a missionary that served in the most exotic locations. I think in my "plan" I was going to get married right after I got home, and that did happen...but not in the way I planned. I had no one in mind, but the last month I was a missionary I felt very strongly that I would marry quickly. After things with the first guy I dated went ka-put, I chalked the whole thing up to me imagining things and settled in for the long stretch. Not even a month later I met Mr. N. I was married just shy of 7 months of coming home from my mission. Quick, but right for us. In my "plan" I also wanted to start having babies right away. I wanted a big family close together. Mr. N agreed mostly with me there. He grew up in a family of 6 children and thought that was a good number. Anyways, having children didn’t go quite like planned. M joined our family a little more than 2 years after we were married. When I got pregnant with L we realized that life had given us the unexpected trial of my pregnancies being so harsh. We’re not talking normal morning sickness. More like having the flu for 8 months, all day every day. That fact seriously impacted our future planning for children. I don’t totally understand why things are the way they are for us when it comes to children and my pregnancies, but I do feel it is supposed to be this way. I believe God is smarter than us…and he understands what he’s doing even if we don’t. With that said, I’ve pretty much come to the end of what I remember about my life “plan”. No doubt the words, ‘And we all lived happily ever after’ were in my mind as the conclusion of this plan. I don’t think I was quite daring enough to put that in ink, but still…the thought was there. It reminds me of a quote by Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy, “[A] bride sighed blissfully on her wedding day, ‘Mom, I’m at the end of all my troubles!’” to which her wise and more experienced mother replied, “‘Yes…but at which end?’ (in Conference Report, Oct. 1996, 34; or Ensign, Nov. 1996, 26). The wedding day is definitely not the Happily Ever After! It's just the start of a journey together...

...and joined by others along the way towards the Ever After.