My husband doesn’t typically read my 📝writings before publishing. He doesn’t even ask about the topics. Although I sometimes want feedback while I’m working on a project, Ken prefers to be 😯surprised. He offers his thoughts after he reads my words- wondering if I pushed the envelope too much or 😂joking that I mentioned his love of silly 🐶dog videos- again.
When Ken and I were first dating many years ago, he gave me a sweet 💝gift that still sits on a shelf in our home. It’s a simple piece of framed art with a line that says, “You are the best surprise of my life!”😍 That was true for us. We were the last thing either of us expected at that point. Without getting all mushy and sappy, we both believe that we were meant to find each other at precisely that time. 🎉Call it destiny. A grand surprise. Whatever it was, we both welcomed the 💫twist of fate that saved us from the lives we were living.
I’ve learned that 😯surprises are often the best parts of life. How about the birth of our youngest daughter- even though a previous 🔬medical crisis should have made it impossible for me to have another baby? I was in my second trimester before we even knew! We didn’t name her 😇Angelina Grace for nothing!
What about 😜fun surprises, like when Zane plotted with Ken to make a surprise visit 🏠home from his college in Chicago. It was a shock to find the guy in our backyard! Even better- he hid in the trunk of the 🚗car when we picked up Angelina from volleyball practice. You should have seen the look on her face when she put her bag in the trunk and found her brother!😂
When you least expect it, expect it- right?✔ Surprises can be 🎉fantastic. Surprises can also 😡suck.
Imagine my unforeseen 😱horror when I heard my Mom moaning on a voicemail that she left while I was teaching. She managed to utter the breathless words, “help me.” Then, the 📱phone went dead. I had no idea what that message meant, and I was terrified to find out. The resource officer and counselor at my school hustled with me to her 🏠house, where we found her on the kitchen floor with a broken hip. It certainly could have been worse.
Surprises are often subtle little shifts that we barely notice. 💖They might seem like the smooth, joyful waves of life. Sometimes, though, they slam us into an alternate reality. ❌2020- anyone? If there was ever a year of surprises, it’s this one!
It doesn’t matter if the surprise is more of an 💡epiphany or a 💥bombshell; how we handle these jolts reveals character. Our kids are 👀watching- whether they’re adults or toddlers- and learning how to take life-changing surprises through our reactions.💯 Our partners are 👀watching and 💞hoping to bring clarity to confusion or share in the wonder. Our friends and colleagues are 👀watching for spots to step in when we need a lift or a 😂laugh. Are you setting the example you hoped to set when the curveballs of life come straight for you? Are you meeting surprises head-on with authenticity and honesty? Maybe you retreat for a bit- taking some time to gather yourself before taking action.
What if…we’re surprised? We don’t know where life will take us next. That’s okay. Life is all about 😯surprises. We really shouldn’t know what’s coming- good or bad. I know what we’d do. We would attempt to change things,🙋 and we would be wrong. We’d try to fit them into our life plan and take away all of the surprises. That thinking skips a critical detail. ➡We’re not in control.⬅To echo a line from one of my favorite Thomas Rhett 🎶songs, ” You make your plans, and you hear God laughing.” Surprises? Yeah- bring ’em on!💖
sharing the stairs 