Life has a Funny Way of Working Out

In 1990 Garth Brooks hit #1 with the song "Unanswered Prayers".  For those of you who don't know the song the chorus goes like this:

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers

Remember when you're talking to the man upstairs

That just because He doesn't answer doesn't mean He don't care

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Whether you believe in God or some other kind of higher power this song can strike a chord.  For me it's really about all the things you hoped for and would have given anything for (in the 90's for me it would have been marrying one of the members of NKOTB... don't judge I grew up in Gillette, Wyoming) but looking back the choices you made turned out way better in the end.

When I was growing up my best friend lived a few blocks away.  The back of her house faced one of the busiest streets in town.  Often we sat on the fence in her back yard dreaming and scheming about what life was going to look like in the future.  A future that honestly didn't go much further than the age of 25 if I remember correctly. 

Back then I was sure of the following things:

1. I would graduate from college
2. I would get married
3. I would have a great career and make lots of money
4. I would have two kids
5. I would travel the world

Of those five things only one has come completely true, graduating from college.    I'm still working on all of the other four and it's even more okay if some of them don't happen.  I know from a recent e-mail (an amazing, make you cry like a baby, don't respond because you don't know how to do it justice e-mail) my best friend's life dreams and plans that were hatched on that fence are no closer to being a reality than mine.

I am positive that I never imagined

1. I would WANT to run a marathon
2. I would enjoy spending a day making jam and canning tomatoes and mangoes
3. I would spend most of my year as a single parent
4. I would give anything to live closer to my parents
5. I would be in a fight for my life and win before I turned 40
6. I would work in Opera and enjoy it

Tonight while canning tomatoes (because it's not hot enough in Houston I needed to stand over a pot of boiling water all day) amazed at how much I was enjoying myself I realized how thankful I am for those unanswered prayers.  That though I still enjoy day dreaming about what might happen if I win the lottery, I love my life.  I wouldn't change a thing!