Unanswered prayers

Not too long ago a friend confided that she hadn’t made it in to her first-choice college years ago and that it devastated her. But then she told me how the school she ended up at was the perfect fit for her. Isn’t it interesting when plans don’t go as planned? As if there is purposefully something better than what we would hope for. Sometimes that blessing is hidden in a lesson. So long ago, but there was this one blond-haired friend through all of jr high and high school I wanted to date (he ended up with a very sweet friend of mine; he’s also not on Facebook) . I dreamed of a businessman husband who wore fancy suits to work, living in a large city with a professional job of my own. I planned on serving a mission for all my teenage years—had the suitcases, skirts, scarves even. So weird when the last thing you expect from a first date with an unsuspecting friend is the feeling that we will be sharing our life together. How could I ever have envisioned myself as a teenager in San Diego enduring one water skiing party after another ending up in Montana, loving to garden, hike, and camp, having cows, puppies and a houseful of kids? Some friends have family troubles, would love more children (even with 5, I long for more…), don’t understand why jobs aren’t working out, all sorts of hard things. When our hearts break, when a door closes, or when it looks like we’re in a mess we can’t see a solution to, it’s pretty cool to wait it out and see what happens. It’s not like we don’t make plans, just flitting from idea to idea.  Nothing like that. We do make plans, we set goals, we have a loose idea about what we want, and we go to work. BUT we kind of keep our options and eyes open so that when something we’re not expecting comes along, when a door we for thought for sure we were meant to go through is locked, instead of pounding on it, we can enjoy the waiting room and our present station until we notice the simply but beautifully carved other door—wide open. Leading the way to just a different way to be happy.