Life’s Wrong Number
Life is sometimes like a wrong number. You call but end up speaking to a stranger and never seem to reach the party you actually need.
It is amazing how, as soon as reason sets in, we start planning the next twenty years of our lives. We set these near impossible goals and aim directly for them. Suddenly real life interferes, and then wham we are knocked on our kissers. Life has a way of giving us wake up calls in the middle of our well laid plans and unexpectedly we are traveling down a road that up until then we have ignored. We set out a straight road before us and then an avalanche of rocks falls across our path. We sit and stare at the barrier wondering what to do next. This was not in the blueprints. I did not foresee this nor did I make provisions for it. Do I plow through? Do I step around? Do I cut a different path? Do I climb over? Or do I remove it one stone at a time? Childbirth, failure, love, divorce, death, opportunities, physical impairment intruding; all of which are life chapters that appear just when the storyline is going so smoothly. Those unanticipated cliff hangers, that bring passion, excitement, fear, injustice or just extreme reaction, piling into our tranquility and order.
Do I do a quick adjustment and then resume where I was before being interrupted? Am I supposed to abort my ideas or drag the additional party down my road with me? Do I treat this as an addition to my plans or an obstacle to be obliterated? So often, after a major life change, I reflect back and wonder what in the world I had been thinking. I see the change as the logical next step in my life when a year ago it was an unforeseen glitch. All of these variations, additions, transformations and yes even tragedies have been the spice in my otherwise bland recipe of life. Spice doesn’t necessarily taste sweet. In fact, they are mostly strong or bitter. But when combined with the right ingredients, the dish becomes quite tasty. Without them, my life would have been ordered but quite boring.
So in the end, my wrong numbers become new friends and the parties I was trying to reach have mostly been disconnected. But all in all, I look forward to the forks that take me down unforeseen paths with anticipation, amusement and speculation. Bring it on; I’m ready!
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