Unexpectedly

If I could go back 15 years or so and lay out what I thought would happen in my life in the next 15 years or so, I imagine I would have guessed wrong--oh so wrong on so many counts. Let's see . . . I was 23, a college graduate, living in Italy as a missionary. As I pondered my future I considered possibilities--perhaps I would live in New York, or stay in Seattle, maybe even head for London again. The world was wide open, seek a career in Theater, go to graduate school. Perhaps I would marry, perhaps not. But I didn't figure that choosing marriage would have so drastically shaped the course of my life. Yes, I was also naive at 23. Since then there has not been graduate school and only brief stays in New York and Seattle. And since then I can add Florida, Colorado, South Carolina, Michigan and now Texas. Oh, and a few weeks in Greece. I've traveled and lived in some stunningly beautiful places. I've lived in suburbs, farmland and in the mountain tops. All things I never would have imagined 15 years ago. And yesterday, a new unimagined first, I bought a wheelchair for my 34 year old husband.

My how life changes, and changes us. He doesn't need a chair all the time--but we wanted to give him more freedom--maybe we'll take the kids to a museum over Christmas break and he can come along instead of laying in bed at home. He likes to say "I can be in pain at home or I can be in pain away from home." which is true, except it's hard to be in pain and walk very far. So now we can push him around--I've waited years to push him around . . .

Who knows how long the chair will be present in our lives. But for today it is needful. I've never been able to second guess my future, so I'll try not to do so now. For now we try and enjoy the good in our lives and find ways to laugh about the unexpected circumstances. If I new how to knit, I told Matt I would knit him an afghan for his knees and maybe a shawl for his shoulders. It's tough being married to an old lady . . .

PS. The Chair I think needs a name. The scooter he had for a few weeks we named Perry, after the platypus. I'm thinking of calling it "Dr. Doofenschmirtz", "Doof" for short.