Funny How Things Turn Out

Remembering the days when everything, well almost everything, on my to do list got done and there was usually time left over in the day. Getting up, making the bed, showering, going to work, etc. It seemed like my lists were always checked off when I was younger, rarely did I have to put anything off until the next day. Now I find myself making 2 or 3 lists of things to get done and I'm lucky if most of the items aren't pushed onto tomorrows list. Funny how things turn out.

At one time I was consumed by having everything in it's place. The house had to be clean and tidy. Then I married someone who wasn't that way. Clean - yes, but there was a tendency to "collect" things. Clutter actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, it started me on the road to loosening up if things were out of order. As long as the house is clean, I don't completely stress out if it's cluttered. I've learned that anything that doesn't get done when I think it should, will usually be there to do the next day. Funny how things turn out.

When I was younger I had my life mapped out. I wanted to be married by the time I was 24, a few years later start a family. I initially wanted the "old idea of family" - a house with the white picket fence, the back yard big enough for kiddos and a dog or 2. A small garden in one corner. Since then I've learned that most things will not go the way you plan it, when it comes to life in general. Funny how things turn out.

There was a time in my life when I had to have every detail in my day, week and month planned. It had to be as "perfect" as I could get it. Well, of course I learned that nothing in this life is perfect. There are "perfect" moments that we are blessed to experience every so often. However, once you realize that nothing is perfect, the stress begins to lift. Funny how things turn out.

Like many people who start out in marriage, we tried to have our own kiddos. We weren't able, though not for lack of trying. Many years of raised and dashed hopes. But when we were finally introduced to our boys, all the sad memories faded away, a whole new life of hope invaded. Funny how things turn out.

When the boys were babies I had all these dreams of what it would be like, how they could have anything in the world they desired. What they would be like, what conversations we could have. Then they were diagnosed with autism and everything changed. Funny how things turn out.

At first I was "afraid" there would be so many things they'd never be able to do. That they'd be labeled and looked down on. Then I learned how much they could do. They began to show me their only limit, like any child, are the limits we put on them. Funny how things turn out.

From a mother's heart - like many people with special needs children, we've learned that they themselves are special.