Brett took the girls school shopping a couple of weeks ago. They went to Farmington Station where he followed Hadley and Elle around for a day and paid the bills. I’m not sure how much negotiating took place, but they came home with some good stuff. My point in bringing this up is this is not a role he ever anticipated. He has had to adapt.

All of us are thrown curves in life. Some of us handle them and some of us don’t. Why?

When I was a kid, I had a plan. I was going to be the first female President of the United States. I thought that meant I should major in political science, but my roommates, whom I depended on, were going into elementary ed, and heaven knows I couldn’t find my way to class without them. So, I majored in elementary ed and made it to class every day. School teacher was reality; President was a vain imagination. I adapted.

Now a life can’t be built on vain imaginations, and we all need to learn to be happy in our own reality. That doesn’t mean you can’t dream and work hard. Generally, that has to happen to improve reality, and I have found having a dream and working hard make for a great reality, even if you never realize the dream. 

So, back to Brett. His not-so-favorite-reality has been school shopping with his girls. A couple of days ago, a package arrived from Amazon. It was full of jeans and t-shirts for “Back to School.”  Adapting at its best…no more trips to Farmington Station and still new clothes for happy girls. 

Now, school shopping and career building don’t have a lot in common. But being flexible in the reality of life applies to both. Life is Good when you can chuck the vain imaginations and adapt to the realities life throws at you.  So, keep adapting, it’s what happy people do!