L.I.F.E.

I love my life. I don't always love myself and I don't always love the way I behave, but at the end of the day, I really love my life. True, there have been nights where I have laid awake, dreaming about being a tall, willowy bombshell or winning the lottery. And the life I live right now isn't the one I had planned out for myself. For the longest time, I pictured myself being married to another teacher and raising four children (more or less modelling my parents' life). I did not imagine myself falling in love with someone who is twelve years older than me, who was previously married and had two small children. That being said, I really do love where I am in my life, what I do for a living, what I have achieved and who I have standing by my side. And I wouldn't trade my life for anything. Well, maybe for a re-occurring guest spot on Friends when it was in its prime, but that chance has long passed.

I am not an overly religious or spiritual person, but I do live my life according to two well-known cliches: "Everything happens for a reason, even if we never discover what those reasons are" and "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end". I also believe that my life works out the way I need it to. I am not a tenacious go-getter, beating down doors to get what I want. When I look back on my life, there are so many instances of things simply working themselves out.

With regards to getting jobs, I always got the job I wanted at the exact time that I needed it. On the day of my interview for getting into the College of Education, even though I was incredibly nervous, I knew I was going to kick some interview-butt and that I was going to be accepted. Mike and I had looked at houses for over a year before this house fell into our laps. When the bidding war with the bank began, I knew the house was going to be ours. When we decided to get a dog last year, we were worried about ending up with a yappy, little, hyper fur ball that destroyed our house. We ended up with the total opposite in Shandi and we couldn't love her more. She is a perfect fit to our household. Granted, Jazz didn't quite make the cut BUT there was a reason why we got her - so she could find her rightful soul-mate owner in Kim (who still sends me e-mail updates on how the little fireball is doing!).

In keeping with the thought of life working itself out, the trip is back on. The van has been temporarily fixed (enough so we can drive it safely). We were concerned about money and because this is a public blog and the world wide web, I'm not going to reveal where this extra money came from. As we were sitting and trying to crunch numbers and figure out how we could still do the trip and cover our expenses for the month after the trip (until Mike gets a paycheque), we received a phone call telling us that money we had been waiting for since January is going to finally come through in the next two days. Woo hoo! I have said it before, and I will say it again - my life works out exactly as I need it to.