On Hopes and Dreams and Plans
As an *ahem* older person, I have what some call "life experience". It's true. It's one of the best things about getting older. (There are a lot of not-so-great things, but we won't discuss that today.) As part of my experience, here is what I would say to all the 20-somethings out there, with all their hopes and dreams and plans—
Your life is not going to turn out like you think.
Oh, I’m not saying don’t make plans. Make them. Have dreams and do your darndest to achieve them. And hope, yes, please, have hope. You must have and do all of these things.
But, in the end, things will change. And that’s ok.
Maybe you’ll dream of having 6 kids, yes, 6 is the right number. And then you have 6. And, then, BAM! you find yourself pregnant with number 7. It wasn’t your plan. Or your dream. But, then you have that 7th child (and he’s not the girl you’d hoped for), but he turns out to be so much more. You sit now, with that baby number seven ready to enter junior high, and look at all your kids, and know that 6 was not the right number. It was 7 all along.
And, maybe, you’d always hoped to live in a really big house, with a huge basement that has an entertainment area with an enormous tv, and a big ‘grandkids’ room with bunkbeds and games and secret hiding places. But, you have an average house, with not much extra room and your entertainment area is just a whole bunch of game systems with wires all over the place (that you hate oh, so much). But, those game systems give your kids fun times, and sometimes they play together and laugh and yell and fill your house with happy noises. And the grandkids will love the rooms you do have because you are there.
And, perhaps your plan was for travel all over the world, but instead you just go on short trips to close places. But those trips are with family and you have the best time sliding into a river or playing cards till late at night. And laughing. So much laughing. And you realize that it isn’t so much where you go, but who you go with.
So, young people, have your hopes and dreams and plans. But, also, plan for change. Be flexible and learn to compromise. And realize that happiness is in the people you surround yourself with. Dream of that.
Your life is not going to turn out like you think.
Oh, I’m not saying don’t make plans. Make them. Have dreams and do your darndest to achieve them. And hope, yes, please, have hope. You must have and do all of these things.
But, in the end, things will change. And that’s ok.
Maybe you’ll dream of having 6 kids, yes, 6 is the right number. And then you have 6. And, then, BAM! you find yourself pregnant with number 7. It wasn’t your plan. Or your dream. But, then you have that 7th child (and he’s not the girl you’d hoped for), but he turns out to be so much more. You sit now, with that baby number seven ready to enter junior high, and look at all your kids, and know that 6 was not the right number. It was 7 all along.
And, maybe, you’d always hoped to live in a really big house, with a huge basement that has an entertainment area with an enormous tv, and a big ‘grandkids’ room with bunkbeds and games and secret hiding places. But, you have an average house, with not much extra room and your entertainment area is just a whole bunch of game systems with wires all over the place (that you hate oh, so much). But, those game systems give your kids fun times, and sometimes they play together and laugh and yell and fill your house with happy noises. And the grandkids will love the rooms you do have because you are there.
And, perhaps your plan was for travel all over the world, but instead you just go on short trips to close places. But those trips are with family and you have the best time sliding into a river or playing cards till late at night. And laughing. So much laughing. And you realize that it isn’t so much where you go, but who you go with.
So, young people, have your hopes and dreams and plans. But, also, plan for change. Be flexible and learn to compromise. And realize that happiness is in the people you surround yourself with. Dream of that.
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