Plans change, so let us thrive

Today, purely by chance, I came across two previous posts that cried out to be reposted. They were written 18 years ago, on my second blog (an alphablog that was so much fun to write), so I'm pretty confident none of my readers here today ever saw them! They were written with my No Kidding status in mind, especially V = Vintage, but not for that purpose alone. I think it's worth repeating the sentiments, as they hold true 18 years later. If not more so.

V = Vintage

“Five years ago, I had a doctor who kept referring to “women of your vintage.” I felt like a wine that was souring, turning into vinegar, appropriately barren. He was trying to be considerate, but it would have been kinder if he had just been blunt.

Now, though, I am a very different vintage. Richer in character, able to stand up to time, changing and aging in the best possible way. I like to feel I’m maturing well. I like my vintage. It is one of the best. The kind to be celebrated, treasured, appreciated. So I do.

Vintage. There’s a lot in a word. And in five years.”

Note: I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to say this, as the years do their damage. But it still feels good to me, so I'm reposting it while I can! 

"Z = Zigzag

The logical, pragmatic, planning, and list-making part of me loves the idea of setting goals, achieving them, having the next five or ten years of my life planned out. But then I listen to people who do that, and think of everything they are bypassing.

Life doesn’t take us where we plan. For that I am very grateful. Some of my most rewarding experiences have been when plans have gone awry. Some of my most successful career moves have been the result of a barrier in the way of my plan, or simply of chance, being in the right place at the right time. I am who I am now, simply because my plans didn’t go the way they were supposed to.

A straight line is so boring. No stopping off to sample experiences on the way, to meet new people, to try new things. A straight line has no imagination, and covers far less ground. Zigzagging my way through life is much more fun."

It’s worth clicking through on the titles to see the comments of people I still “talk” to all this time later, and who had interesting insights or funny comments. I particularly liked the ones on the last post, showing that we all have unexpected changes to our plans for our life, whether we’re childless, childfree, or parents. A reminder that we’re not that different. And I loved these lyrics that were posted:

“Somehow I find myself far out of line from the ones I had drawn
Wasn't the best of paths, you could attest to that, but I'm keeping on.
Would our paths cross if every great loss had turned out our gain?
Would our paths cross if the pain it had cost us was paid in vain?

There was no pot of gold, hardly a rainbow lighting my way
But I will be true to the red, black and blues that colored those days.
I owe my soul to each fork in the road, each misleading sign.
'Cause even in solitude, no bitter attitude can dissolve my sweetest find

Thanksgiving for every wrong move that made it right.

—Poi Dog Pondering”