The *Fun* Never Ends

When I was young, I'd look at the lives of adults I knew and they seemed to have it all together.  They looked "settled" and seemed to have all the answers.  I remember boasting that my dad was smarter than everyone else's.  He was.  So there.  Now that I'm an adult, I laugh at my childhood lense.  Of course I didn't know that my parents were dealing with near financial ruin, divorce of loved ones, let alone their own rocky relationship. 

My own life as an adult has been anything but smooth.  And I know I'm not alone.  Just the past year is a prime example.  In 2018, only, we moved, I got hip surgery, my oldest sister lost an epic battle with pancreatic cancer, we got our first dog, potty trained our youngest, my husband and I took a trip to Spain, and our oldest successfully finished 3+ years of chemotherapy for leukemia.  Good thing I color my hair or I'd have to witnessed all the increased grays on top of everything else.  At least that's in order!  I think...

We all have ups and downs.  No one is immune to craziness, trials, misfortune, trajedy, etc.  So what?   Do we just bend over and take it?  Do we give up ever making dreams?  Do we relinquish ourselves to misery because life is never going to turn out the way we planned or hoped?  I've asked myself those questions more than once.  My plans always seem to get messed up.  My dreams rarely seem to come to fruition, and not for lack of effort (I'm NOT afraid of hard work).  Maybe, I've thought, I wasn't in touch with the cosmos and therefore dreaming the wrong dreams, expecting the wrong things out of my life, asking for things that weren't meant to be.  Perhaps. 

I'm coming to terms with the fact that change is the ever-constant.  I can't control everything, as much as I try.  Crap hits the fan, even if you've planned effectively for the Apocalypse.  Life can and will bring us all to our knees at at least one time or another. 

So now what?  Ride the wave.  Enjoy the ups with your hands in the air.  Learn from the downs.  Blaming, staying angry, continually wishing things were different never work.  Believe me, I've tried.  More than once.  I'm always left feeling empty.  Gratitude, clinging to my loved ones, and building my relationship with God never disappoint.  Not even remotely.  In fact, quite the opposite. Joy, satisfaction, and growth result.  Now doesn't that sound like something we all want?