"Life is what happens while you're making other plans."
I can't remember where I found it, but I adopted it in my signature line for the private e-mail list I joined after losing Katie in 1998. It took on added significance for me after we made the decision to stop infertility treatment & live childless/free in 2001. I most definitely had been making other plans for my life when stillbirth & infertility intervened & took me in a whole different direction.
But -- while it may not be the life I had originally planned -- it's still my life, & when I thought about it, I realized it was, on balance, still a pretty good one. I eventually realized I had to learn to enjoy what I had, today, instead of wishing for what I could not have -- make lemonade out of those lemons. In some ways & on some days, it's still a struggle -- but I'm trying.
This was a lovely post, Loribeth. And, one I needed to hear today, as today is one of those days I'm struggling with being happy and accepting my life as it turned out.
ReplyDeletei hope someday to get to the place where the plans don't matter to me as much as the life right in front of me. getting closer. it's a beautiful quote.
ReplyDeleteMmm, this morning I read: "We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heaves in the distance. Likewise, we do not see that the Buddha exists in our own hearts."
ReplyDeleteAh, so true. Every day is a struggle for us all in one way or another. I'm glad that you keep trying, though, that's what makes you a beacon in the darkness for so many people.