NUMERO TRES: UNEXPECTED

Everyone – especially us girls, I think – has an idea in their minds about how their life is going to be when they “grow up”. I don't know of anyone who has been so lucky as to have their life turn out exactly as planned. That’s a given. Maybe some of our dreams fall into place. But not every single aspect of our imaginary perfect life can come to pass. And my life most certainly is no exception. Here’s my list of UNEXPECTED. Things that I wouldn’t have guessed would happen. Or that I had planned otherwise on. A few things that have changed in me.

Now, mind you, this list of unexpected things does not implicate or mean in any way that I’m not happy with my life. It doesn’t mean that these things are unacceptable to me. It doesn’t mean that I’d change anything. I am happy with my life. I’m a true believer in “blooming where planted”. It’s just a list. And here she goes:

• I settled outside of California.
• I don’t mind – and sometimes actually like - watching golf or tennis.
• Aside from the graham cracker variety, I’ve never made a homemade pie crust. And aside from the no-bake kind, I’ve never made a real pie either.
• I have never been able to do a cartwheel. Tried and failed many times…always thought I’d get it eventually but I was wrong. And I know I’m not the only one.
• My second child is a girl (I was 150% sure she was another boy).
• I worked various jobs – mainly medical and insurance – and never did do what I always wanted to do: work with families and children.
• I never finished college.
• The following foods (which were on my “no-way Jose” list as a kid) are all quite delicious to me: tomatoes, sushi, bratwurst or ribs with sauerkraut, tomato soup, and the legs of calamari/squid (SO much better than the body).
• I haven’t worn shorts in public in years.
• My feet got wider and grew almost a size when I was pregnant with Hudson.
• I like country music.
• I was diagnosed with a not-so-awesome genetic medical condition at the late age of 30 (making it that far with NFII and not knowing it is almost unheard of).
• We moved into our “final” home when we only had one child.
• My uncontrollable response to my children crying when they get a vaccination/shot is to laugh. Out loud.
• I have never been to Europe.
• I like shoveling and/or snow-blowing the white stuff.
• As much as I love to cook, I constantly feel like I’m in a rut when it comes to make for dinner. I always thought I’d offer a great variety of meals to my family…not so much.
• I am totally into blogging.

It’s funny, I know that a lot of other things in my life have been unexpected, but many of them are ordinary and/or amazing to me and would probably be (if they aren't already) in my ORDINARY or AMAZING lists. Interesting to take a look at my life in these little “categories” and see how many of the things I listed could be put on more than one list.

There you have it, kiddies. The third and final list that I promised a couple of weeks ago. Honestly, doing these lists has been kind of fun for me. Try it yourself sometime…it’ll get you thinking.

Now to decide what my next list will be…