Within a week my family will reach a major turning point. Since my youngest daughter was small we assured her that there would come a time, because of the five and six year age difference between her and her sister and brother, that she would be an "only child", the only child at home. As we all know, this great adventure called life rarely goes as we expect and the time we expected to have one child at home came and went. But very soon it will be here at last.
I firmly believe that our lives do follow a plan. The difficulty that we all face is accepting that the plan isn't our own! These past few years haven't turned out at all as I expected. I've struggled to understand and re-adjust. I think my greatest peace came as I threw out my expectations and accepted that the way things had happened was exactly as it was supposed to be, even if it wasn't the way I wanted it to be. Then I could enjoy life as it was, instead of trying to figure out what went wrong and fix it.
Looking back I see so many benefits to our family. Relationships were strengthened. Each of us learned and matured in ways that wouldn't have happened if events had proceeded according to my expectations. And who knows what benefits will reveal themselves as this unforeseen future moves forward?
It's been an unexpected journey that has taken us to this turning point. I guess it's time to buckle up and get ready to enjoy and experience the ride as we move on toward the next one!
