Plan to be Surprised

Let me tell you a little secret. I never ever ever wanted to be interested in someone in the military. I never wanted to be involved with a soldier, especially one who is going to deploy.

And yet I am.

This is new. It’s a completely different culture that I’m not used to and I know very little about. So as a way to process these new experiences and the idea of my Hawk and my impending separation, I decided that I need to write about it. What can I say? I majored in English. Writing is a therapeutic for me. And just the idea of this deployment is enough to make me think that I’m going to need all the therapy available to me.

Plans are interesting. Because no matter how well thought out they are, sometimes life just doesn’t follow through. It refuses to obey.

As Steve Carell said in the movie Dan in Real Life:

“Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.”

The last thing I ever thought I’d be doing would be creating a blog as a coping mechanism because the man I’m with is deploying for almost a year. And that I’d still be with that man. An Army man. And that I started dating him knowing that he was going to be leaving in the not so distant future. I never thought I’d ever see a military Christmas party or hug him in his camo or ogle and awe over his flight pictures. Never.

And I guess that’s what life is about. The unexpected. I guess that is why faith is so important. Because we don’t know the future. It is interesting to me that here I am at this unexpected place in my life. It’s almost as if God is saying “Never say never, my dear.” And it’s true. Because who would have thought? Definitely not me.

I’m surprised. And is it going to be hard.? You bet. Will there be bad days? Maybe more than good days. But will it be worth it? To be with him – of course.

Here’s to the many surprises of the future. The good, the not so good, and the God who has them all in the palm of His hand.