When I was 15 I made a plan for my life. I was going to go on a date with J and it was going to be great. After graduating high school I was going to attend BYU and get a degree in elementary education. I would serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and thought England would be a great place to go although I knew that I wouldn’t get to pick where I served. I’d get home and get married on February 2, 2002, at 2pm because that is the coolest date ever. And then I’d have kids and be a mom. The end.
And then my life actually happened.
I did go on a date with J. It was nothing special and even as it ended I thought to myself that I could’ve skipped out on that and not missed anything in life. I did go to BYU and got a degree in elementary education, with a minor in computer science (my minor wasn’t part of my 15-year-old plan). I did serve a mission for the LDS church and went to Brasil. I ended up student teaching in Mexico (not part of the original plan). February 2, 2002, came and went and I wasn’t even dating anyone.
The list of things that have happened so far that I couldn’t even begin to imagine at 15 is a rather wonderful list. It involves graduate degrees, belly dancing, community theater, getting married on maybe not the coolest date ever but instead on the most absolute perfect date ever to someone I couldn’t have even dreamed of at 15. It involves struggle and pain, sorrow and joy. And yes, it did eventually involve having kids (twins never would’ve been in my 15-year-old plan, I wasn’t that crazy).
But that hasn’t been the end yet. And thank goodness for that.
I still have plans for the future, but there’s not really a time line to it any more. And I’m much more open to all the different things that will come up along the way. In fact, I’m looking forward to all the ways my plans will go awry.
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
It’s kind of funny how childhood plans always seem to end at our early twenties: graduate, go to college, go on a mission, get a job, get married, have kids. Even extending my marriage date into my early-mid thirties, there was still a whole lot left to go. Now that the childhood checklist is complete, the rest is frosting. To be more specific, my next 20-year plan is to transfer my checklist onto our kids: THEY’LL graduate, go to college, go on a mission (or two or three), get jobs, get married, have kids. After that… I guess we go on Mediterranean cruises.
We may not have gotten married on the coolest day ever, but we got something better (getting married on the coldest day ever).
Beware of the J names.
:brett:
So happy God had better plans for me than I did. So, so happy.