All Bets Are Off

Sometimes life doesn't turn out exactly as you expect.

The year after high school several of the guys I graduated with made a list. The list detailed what they bet our life 'highlights' would be at our 10 year reunion. I had no part in making this list; but, I saw it after. I more or less just focused on what they had planned for me. Their plan for me... Businesswoman and committed soccer mom driving all the kids around in a pick-up truck married to R.M. (no luck in getting the name!). Basically, I'd be wearing the (suit) pants in the family 9 to 5 p.m. and passing out juice boxes and snacks to all the kids in tow after the work day. I would have also returned to eastern Washington to settle down without expanding my horizons beyond the undergrad years at Carroll.

There are 1.5 years until our 10 year reunion. The reality of my life... Not quite a businesswoman. Actually, not at all. I am definitely driven by my professional pursuits. But, I work in hybrid position created by higher education and atheltics. Also, I am far from a soccer mom. I don't have kids. Well, if you want to say I have kids, you're understanding that they are left on my door step at 17-19 years old and are kicked-out of my house after 4 to 5 years. I'm not driving kids to practice and giving them juice boxes. I do attend sporting events (including soccer) and support my 'kids' (aka students) like a faithful soccer mom. I don't hand out juice boxes, but sometimes I share a snack or meal with those 'kids.' I don't drive a pick-up either. I cruise around in my Escape. Then there's the whole married thing... yes, please insert the laughter here. Enough said about that. Finally, my horizons... they've been expanded; they didn't start and end between eastern Washington and Carroll. I did move back home when I left Helena, but only for a month. I then lived in Seattle for 8 weeks, followed by Montgomery for 1 year, Raleigh for 1 year and I've been in Logan for 2.5 years.

Needless to say, my life doesn't fit the 10 year reunion life highlights the guys had planned for me. At the time of their betting, I wouldn't have disagreed. Instead, I asked myself, "how do they have me pegged so well?!" I didn't understand how their bet aligned with my goals at the time so well. 

Fast forward 8.5 years... life didn't turn out how I expected. It turned out better and there is still another year and a half until I face my peers at our reunion and tell the guys the list of reasons 'all [their] bets are off' on me.