Life Happens

Posted on | October 19, 2009 | No Comments

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” – Woody Allen

I took a break from blogging over the last week and a half because I was going on vacation with my family (dad, stepmom, and siblings) and I wanted a chance to relax and recharge my creative writing juices. I’ll admit I had high hopes for my time in Northern California – I was going to come back filled with ideas for this blog and more things to write about than I had time.

Life had other ideas.

Two days into our family vacation, my grandmother passed away. She was 87, so there’s certainly some platitudes to be said about how she lived a long, full life (and she did), but her illness happened quickly and her health declined within a week, so it was a bit unexpected.

Suddenly, our family vacation was turned on its head, as my father and stepmother set off on a whirlwind of travel plans to make their way to the East Coast, while my brother, sister-in-law and I ended up staying for the duration because we couldn’t change our plane tickets.

Life doesn’t always go as planned and you have to be able to deal and adapt and change. My plans for my vacation were quickly thrown out of the window. I didn’t get a lot of relaxation time and I didn’t do any writing at all. And I’ll admit that there was a selfish part of me that was angry about the situation, angry that the vacation I had been waiting for had suddenly become something else.

But life also has a funny way of giving you what you need when things like this happen. I may not have had a relaxing wine country week, but I did have a lot of quality time with my brothers and sister, as well as my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew. We couldn’t be with our parents until later in the week, but we could be with each other. And that was a comfort that helped dull the pain a bit.

A few weeks ago, this is not where I saw my October going at all. So I’m not really sure where the rest of the month will take me, or this blog. I can only ask for your patience as I return to my regular schedule and get back into a regular writing pattern. I imagine there may be a few more posts about my grandma, my family and how this experience has played out for me. But I promise to try to balance the sadness with some Love List updates and, of course, my Weekly Gratitudes.

After all, if my grandma is in heaven reading this blog somehow (and I like to think she is), I want to make sure she’s enjoying herself.

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