my life plan (at 18).

when i was in college, i remember making a list of where i thought i would be in five years and then in ten years.  i was eighteen at the time.

in five years, i thought i would be engaged and about to be married after meeting that special someone in college; and i would be working with special needs children or children in some facet; or maybe deciding to go to medical school.  i thought i would be a home owner or well on my way to home ownership and life would be good.  by these criteria being met of course.

in ten years, i was confident that i would have been married to the man of my dreams for clearly at least five years and would have at least two children; the house would have been ours for a few years and i would be staying home and raising the children. because i live in a perfect world and when you are eighteen and a dreamer this is what you see.

then i was twenty-three, i had not met the man of my dreams, i was just finishing up school and about to move into my first apartment with a roommate.

fast-forward to twenty-eight, the man of my dreams that i was suppose to have been married to for years now...well, he has not been located.  and those children, well...they don't come without meeting the man of your dreams (well, sometimes they do...but not in my story).  but i was working with children in some facet and what i didn't plan was a move to nashville.

fast forward to thirty-four, which i happened to turn this weekend.  a lot of my dreams are still just dreams.  many of my hopes are still hopes.  most of my deepest desires...well, you guessed it...are still desires.  but what i see now that i would not see back then, is that when life doesn't go exactly how you planned.  there is growth.

you have to power through and figure things out.  figure out how to make happiness happen.  figure out how to make each day better.  figure out how to consistently see that cup as half full.  figure out how exactly to make that lemonade when all you have is lemons.

because with each sunrise and each new day, there is a new chance.  a chance at new beginnings.  a chance at new hope.  a chance that you will wake up to delicious lemonade instead of just lemons.