11.11.11

When I was a little girl I decided that today, 11.11.11, would be my wedding day.

Someone get me a tiara and a Disney prince look-a-like!

I also knew, according to my favorite backseat game of M.A.S.H., that by now I'd have four pets, a house identical to the one in Father of the Bride, and a convertible. (preferably in a purply-shade of pink)

skip forward about eighteen years...

Here I am! That same little girl is now an adult... (that is, everything besides my fingers that literally stopped growing at the age of seven)

...and guess what? No husband, no pets, no house, no car.

Instead?

Life has unfolded in a way I could have never predicted. I'm now dating my best friend I met at nineteen (despite countless obstacles, God has insisted we be in each other's lives), I snap pictures of puppies in my neighborhood and make-believe they're my own, I live by myself and I pay a monthly fortune for my 400-square-foot apartment on an island. Oh, and I only ride in cars that are orangey-yellow. I work in an industry for which I didn't go to school and I professionally go by my full name - something I never would have chosen at the ripe age of 8 as "Virginia" sounded too matronly. (or as I would have put it, gross!)

That's the funny thing about life. You can make plans of how everything will be, you can decide on a timeline that suits what you want to happen and in what order, thinking you somehow know best or that someone else's timeline sounds ideal. It's nonsense! If you're lucky, it will all take place how you least expect it.  A story isn't a good story if you know what's going to happen next. Take each paragraph at a time. Smile at the unexpected. Approach change with an open mind. If you get to a hard chapter, push to get to a new page. Know you wouldn't be where you are without going through what you have. And be thankful for the now.

Oh, 8-year-old-self, I know nothing more about what my future holds than what I did back then. As far as the now? The reality of my 11.11.11?

I wouldn't change a thing.

until next time,

g