I learned years ago not to get my hopes up for something that may or may not happen.  Don and I make tentative plans but I’m never sure if they’ll unfold without wrinkles as his work schedule is very unpredictable and can sometimes be very demanding.  He’s sort of like a doctor but his patients are huge fans and electric motors that cause a tremendous amount of upheaval when they are not feeling well.   I know that I can always carry out our plans without him and it’s probably one of the best things about being an adult.  I have keys, a car and money to buy gas.  Things weren’t like that when I was a kid.  When I was a kid I got to stay home if the plan to go somewhere changed.  I’m not sure if there’s an emotion that fully describes the feeling I got when the story I’m about to tell you ended but I do know it helped me to realize plans don’t always work out as planned and life will, indeed, go on.

It was a hot, humid day back in the summer of 1972.  I slipped into my favorite orange and white striped top and my comfortable cream colored shorts I could still fit into since the summer before.  I did my best to arrange my hair into two separate tails and not long after accomplishing my 7 year old “look” I popped into my parent’s bedroom to watch my mom add the finishing touches to her more sophisticated adult look.  We were heading to the “big city” for a day of shopping with my aunt and  4 of her 6 kids.  The car she drove had no air conditioning so it was going to be a hot, miserable “all windows down” kind of day.  As I look back I’m not sure why I looked so forward to those trips.  I loved my cousins but for some reason it seemed they would all attempt to get their mother’s attention when she in the middle of a conversation with my mom.  It wasn’t unlikely to hear “Mom……MOM……..MOMMMMM!!!” at least 350 times on an average round trip due to the fact that she wouldn’t always respond in as timely of a manner as my cousins seemed to prefer.    We could have avoided these situations if my mom would have gotten comfortable driving to the big city but that never happened.  We learned at a very early age that if we wanted to go there, we had to get there by riding with someone other than our mom.    My aunt just happened to be one of those “someones” and on the particular day I’m referencing I remember being ready and I remember waiting….and waiting…….and waiting……and……waiting……..for my aunt’s car to drive into the driveway.  I remember my mom calling her sister to see if the plan had changed and I remember there being no answer which had to mean she was on her way…..or……..maybe………………..not.  It was back in 1972 and there were no cell phones so the only way to find out we weren’t going shopping was when my aunt returned home later that evening telling us she forgot to pick us up.  I don’t remember how long it took before I realized my much anticipated day of shopping wasn’t going to happen and I don’t remember what I did with the rest of my day but I’m 100% sure I was very disappointed that I wasn’t going to get the opportunity to spend my whole five dollars on marked down Barbie clothes that were already out of style and penny candy at Ben Franklin and I wasn’t going to get to see just how much hair you lose when a blob of gum ends up in it and I wasn’t going to find out just how far my patience level would reach if I had to hear “Mom, MOM, MOMMMMMM!!!” one more time.

Life isn’t perfect and the sooner we realize this the sooner we’re able to let go of things that aren’t important and hang on to what really is.  Life happens and if you’re like me, you too, had numerous opportunities during your childhood to experience things that disappointed you, upset you and helped you to learn some very important lessons you would use as an adult.  I learned that plans sometimes change and that life goes on but I also learned that true happiness will never be found any farther away than your shadow reaches and that some of life’s best blessings come disguised in very unexpected ways!