"Has someone seen the life I planned?
It seems it's been misplaced
I've looked in every corner
It's lost without a trace..."
~ Beth Moore~
From the poem: "The Life I Planned "
When I was flying home from Colorado recently, a woman came down the aisle of the airplane. As she walked past the seat I was in, she stopped and gave me a long, hard look. She said, "Did you live in Ann Arbor?" I looked back at her, noticed her big smile, but answered her, "No, never lived there." She moved on past me.
I sat there thinking she was VERY familiar. A few minutes later, after the airplane was full, I turned around and she and I shouted together, "Carbondale! That's it, Carbondale!" As the entire plane applauded our apparent reuniting, we talked over everyone's head. "Stu, Robin?" "Bev, Don?" To the relief of our captive audience, we agreed I'd come back for a short visit after the plane was in the air.
Over two hours later, at the end of the flight, I had recalled much about Robin. She came out of the plane, and all 5'1" of her gave me a big hug. We had been good friends during the mid-80's, while we were both busy raising young children. She'd moved to Ann Arbor, and I'd moved several times. We'd lost touch. So to catch up on almost 20 years of happenings, her first question to me was this: "So did Sarah end up being a NASA astronaut or a Solid Gold dancer?" She went on to tell me that was Sarah's dilemma back then.
Reading this quote, I thought of the dreams and aspirations of my three children versus where they ended up. I thought specifically of Sarah, especially after the year she's been through.
Sarah, back in her "Solid-Gold" aspiration days...
The same little girl who dreamed of being an astronaut or a less than modest dancer; where did she end up? She is all grown up, the wife of a pastor. I would NEVER have guessed that for her! While Dan holds the honor of most spankings, Sarah wins hands-over-fists for time spent grounded, and allowance returned for backtalk. This daughter who had a lot of sassy fire in her - her children say "sir" and "ma'am". She is a stay at home mother of three small children. That's not so amazing. How much she enjoys it all is. I got through those years, I didn't relish them like I now wish I had. She is homeschooling her oldest, she who was always ready to go back to classes mid-July. With three children five and under, with a past year that included the birth of the daughter she was dreaming of and praying for; open-heart surgery for that little girl when she weighed in at barely 8 lbs, and many, many visits to hospitals and specialists, it has not only been quite a year, it's been quite a trip, this parenting so far.
I'm thankful God gets to be God. I'm thankful He has different plans for our lives than we do. I'm thankful he took this young girl, who was smart enough to be an astronaut, equipping her to teach her children. I'm thankful he made her girly enough to raise this precious little girl, covering her in as much pink as will fit on her body. I just can't wait to see the 'Solid-Gold' moves she'll be showing Addison a few years around the corner. Hmmmm, maybe when Addie is a pre-teen, a bit sassy, and starts making plans.
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