Skip to main content

31 Days: Story for Five Minute Friday


I'll be honest, I'm often not happy with my story. I've been known to hide from people in stores to avoid telling my story. "No I'm not married, no I don't have kids." And now I'm old enough to say, "No, I don't have any grandkids." Just this evening, I had dinner with a college friend and she asked me if I was dating and I regretted not having a significant other to tell her about.

My story doesn't live up to the expectations I had. I thought I'd still be married, I thought I have kids who would be old enough to be looking at colleges by now.

The one thing I need to keep reminding myself is - there is nothing wrong with my story. Sure it isn't the page turner I'd hoped it would be but there's nothing wrong with it. I have been to Europe, to places I've dreamed about forever. I have gone into a conference where I didn't know anyone and come out with friends. I still have both my parents, and at 55, there are not a lot of my friends that can say that.

Maybe it is time for me to throw out my story and just live. Live in today. Proudly walk up to those people in the store and I tell them that I have a very fulfilling life without having the boxes checked that people think should be checked.

Because here is the most important thing - my story isn't finished yet. And I really think that if I'd quit worrying so much about the version I had written in my head, I could see the wonderful one God has planned for me. The story He has written for me is so much more than I could have ever imagined for myself. That is the story I need to concentrate on.

Comments

  1. I know just what you mean about not living up to the story in your head that people always question you about. I am 51 and still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. (Besides retired.)

    Maybe instead of hiding from the would-be questioners, you need to beat them to the punch and shine the light on their story instead. Let them get a warm fuzzy from being able to share their life with you, then maybe they will need to leave before getting around to what is or isn't going on in your life. You could start with, "Tell me about the happiest moment of your life." Who knows, they might be hiding from you next time!

    Thanks for sharing. FMF #75

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a really good idea Karen! Thank you for your comment - I appreciate it!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Minute Friday: Roots

Lisa-Jo Baker (lisajobaker.com) hosts a weekly event on her blog called "Five Minute Friday". The rules are 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. So here's my first try at this. Today's topic was Roots. Roots – I think about my grandparents who lived on a farm until my grandfather’s diabetes worsened and they moved to a town with a hospital nearby. My father still says he wished he could have kept that farm. I think of my grandmother who was a widow for 20 years. Every year she would stand over my PaPa’s grave, wishing she was with him. I think of my parents, a product of those grandparents, how hard my father worked to put 2 girls through

Five Minute Friday: Time

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Time. Sometimes time feels like this, like we are in it. Standing inside it, watching life pass by. It is so easy to get stuck in a time - in our pain, in our hurt. We hear the ache tick away in our head like a giant clock. Time, instead, is a gift. More time with family, more time to accomplish goals, more time to see the world. When you are hurting, it seems like time takes forever. One day turns into another day, turns into another day. When we hate a job, the five days of time that make up a work week seem to go on forever. But those five days are also a gift. Because these days, a job is not a guarantee. I want to see time as gift, not as a chore. I want to be on the other side of it, wishing there was more of it. Making the most of every hour, minute, and second instead of

Five Minute Friday: Dwell

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Dwell. I have thought about this word a lot - where should I dwell. After my divorce, I had a big decision to make - did I buy X's half of the house and continue to dwell where I had for the past 15 years or did I sell and move to a new dwelling. After crunching numbers and weighing my options, I decide to stay in the house we had bought together. Because, when it came right down to it, I loved my house. I felt safe there. I try not to dwell on the sadness that happened in this place but instead try to dwell on making it my own. I have painted rooms in colors X would have never agreed upon, I have bought artwork that he would never have hung. I want to dwell in a place that reflects who I am. When the yard is full of weeds and the basement full of water, I long to dwell in