When Life Isn't How We Pictured It

When we are doing life, you know, going out for a walk or grocery shopping or playing sports, I often wrestle with the fact that our family isn't "normal".  There are extra difficulties that we have to deal with almost every single time–this means more preparation, bigger feelings...just greater energy required overall. Except, if we struggle and often appear normal, then so many other families must be in the same situation, right?

Everyone must be experiencing something whether it's a mental or physical illness, special needs, marital or financial struggles, rifts in extended family relationships etc. So if we are all dealing with something, maybe we are normal after all. It's hard because so often we feel alone as we can't share our hardships because it's a private matter or it's not ours to share.

Maybe part of the struggle is in what I imagined being a mom and wife was like. I did not picture the hard parts; I just thought "I'll get married and have three kids and we'll live happily ever after." Sure, I assumed we'd have struggles with communication and I knew teenagers were tricky but as for the rest, what else was there? Naive? Yes. I was not aware of all that there was to deal with in parenting and marriage–spoiler alert: there is a lot and I'm sure even more to come. The longer you're in a marriage and the more kids you have, the more likely it is that there are going to be parts to your journey that are so hard.

So maybe it's not about being normal or different or figuring out where we fit in, it's just being open to the fact that life isn't going to be what you imagined.

It's understanding that everyone has something to deal with. It's that we are not alone, right?

Love,
Louise