The "Right" Way

I've heard a lot of talk lately about doing things the "right way" and while that sounds nice and all, it got me thinking that I've rarely done things as expected, but they seem to be working out okay so far.

P and I were married after dating on and off for a year and a half. Some people think it was too quick, some people told us we weren't stable enough to maintain a marriage, but five years later, we're still together.

I attended two colleges before I graduated from Sonoma State. Unlike a lot of folks, I went straight to a private college after high school, then left after a year to transfer to a community college for a year, then transferred again to a State University for the last three semesters.

I bought my home a month after I turned 21. We applied as newlyweds on the fluke chance that one day five years down the road we'd be eligible to buy a home, but less than two years later we received the keys to our very own condo. We signed our souls away to pay a mortgage while most of our friends were still in their club-hopping faze.

I went through childbirth without an epidural. Need I say more?

It seems like some of the most poignant and influential events in my life didn't happen as I expected them to, but I wouldn't change any of them. I think they all helped me learn how to handle diversity, because as cliche as it sounds, I became who I am because of them.

No, maybe I really just more sharply defined who I am through them, but either way, I'm glad I didn't do it by the book. I think things get dropped into your life to teach you how to handle different situations on a whim. P and I hadn't planned to get pregnant with Taryn, but we did, and we lived through my pregnancy and her first year, and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect time to have her.

It's weird, because yesterday I was blogging about gaining the control over my life enough to not be in control, and the only time I see that happening is when I'm with Taryn. She helps me to see that life is imperfect, but that it is so perfectly imperfect that I wouldn't have it any other way.