In which everything becomes complicated...

Dear blog friends. 
I have a sad story to tell you all. It involves the complete annihilation of version 2.0 of my life plan. I, according to my careful calculations, was supposed to graduate from school this year. It was much anticipated. There were countdown charts made (coughLizLewisHortoncough) and plans for incredible senior trips laid out. In short, it was a done deal. But, as things do, the plan has been changed. I'm not exactly sure whether or not I'm alright with it yet, but I do know that there's someone much smarter than I, who has a much better perspective then I, who has strongly suggested (read: inspired) me to adjust that plan to one the He feels is more suited to the grand scheme of things. It's one of those moments in life where one is required to stick their little foot into the darkness of an unknown and complicated future... But, just as Mr. Emerson suggested all those many moons ago, I intend to go confidently in the direction of my dreams and I suppose the success that I desire will be met with at an unexpectedly common hour. 

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life which you have imagined..."

When I graduated from high school, I had a life plan.

This particular plan had been in existence since I was 12 years old. I remember the day that the beginnings of The Plan formed in my mind. I was in the lunch line at Pleasant Grove Jr. High with Jamie Norman getting our usual rolls and chocolate milk. For some reason at that moment I decided that when I FINALLY grew up (which was never going to happen, because I felt like I had been 12 years old forever) I was going to be a lawyer. I was going to argue in courtrooms and win cases and be brilliant all the time. I was going to buy all my clothes from Banana Republic. I was NEVER going to get married. I'd have a perfect, immaculate apartment in Boston and incredible friends. 

As I grew older parts of this plan changed. It formed into something that could fit on a 3x5 card:

Graduate from high school with enough credits so that I could...

Graduate from college before I...

Left on my mission and when I came home I would...

Go to law school somewhere fabulous like unto Yale or NYU. In my 2nd year of law school I could...

Fall in love. And in my 3rd year I would...

Get married. I would take the bar and practice for a few years and then I could...

Have kids. When my kids were grown up, I would...

Go back to practicing law full time. 

Life of bliss right? 

I thought so too. The Plan survived until the summer after my freshman year in college. And then when I came home from said mission, I changed my major. Twice. (Within the same field, don't you little worry. I went from being a History Teaching Major to a plain old History Major). I am 24 years old and am just getting ready to graduate from college in May. I have no idea exactly what I'm going to do when I graduate. I want to be a college professor, not a lawyer (though I still love me some Law and Order. I also love to visit my daddy's law office). The entire point of my telling you, blog world, this little story is that while my life may not be exactly what my 12 year old mind imagined (or my 18 year old mind, for that matter),it's wonderful all the same. An incredible and inspired friend told me this, "I just wanted to let you know that I know that Heavenly Father loves you. Sometimes his plans aren't the same as ours and we just have to trust him that he knows what he's doing and that he loves us and wants us to be happy. His plan is always infinitely better for us than our own plans, so even though it's hard to not know what is happening and to not understanding why it is (or isn't) happening, it's worth waiting and trusting in Him." 

So my dear blog friends, The Plan might have been revised a few times, but I am sure that I will be perfectly and incandescently happy... In fact, I'm already pretty darn pleased with life.