Had the two major events of my teenage years, an unplanned pregnancy at seventeen and the death of a best friend a year later not happened, would I have chosen a different path? I have been mulling over this question a lot these past few days. Thinking about God’s plan and the dreams we have as school children. How if we are patient enough then the things we dream eventually happen, though maybe not in the order we thought.
By the time I reached 7th grade I had decided that I was going west to ski after high school. By 10th grade I had concluded that I wanted to get into the search and rescue field and spend my life helping people in the backcountry. I would get a black lab, go west, eventually meet the girl of my dreams and live happily in our mountain home. Then on a warm night in May 1996 I no longer wanted that dream, I just wanted to return to the carefree post graduation simplicity of the morning. I wanted our friend back. I bounced around the East after that; first to Pennsylvania to work, Florida and then New Hampshire for school, then Massachusetts with lofty dreams. Eventually I landed back in Vermont, working jobs I hated while dreaming once again of escaping west. I convinced my roommate we needed to move and we began to make plans. Two months before we were to leave I backed out. A few months later I met Erin, a year and a half after that we moved west.
Today sitting in our home in Utah with our black lab, the mountains visible through the dining room window, Noah in his swing and Erin knitting him a new hat I know my childhood dream has come true. God had and has a plan, though I am not always privy to it. The order of events may be different and the path not what I thought. The outcome however is the same and even more wonderful than I could have imagined.
Quietly Making Noise 
beautiful.
This post is great, Jorden. I am so happy for your cute little family. I pray your dreams continue to come true!
Your grandmother used to say, "there must be a reason" for whatever the, usually some sort of disappointment, event was. It used to drive me nuts as if I had no control over events though I don't think it was meant in that vein. What she was really saying was "don't become overwhelmed by this event because there is so much more to life which you will discover." You have inherited that philosophy – this trait – and have certainly had your share of disappointments and tragedies over time. But while the path has been sometimes steep and rocky and sometimes foggy you have perservered and made so much out of what life has presented to you. I marvel at your strength. What a wonderful example you are setting for your sons.