Unexpected Words

Today, I proofread my chapter in the children's e-book I have been a part of writing for the past year. It was not exactly what I expected when I began this writing journey a year ago. But hey, how many things in life are exactly what we expected? When we bring a baby into the world, do we have any idea what it's going to be like to talk to a ten year old or to advise a seventeen year old? When we apply for and interview for, and succeed in getting a job, do we really know what it will be like going to that job each day? 

In everything we do, there are expectations and reality. If we have done our research, perhaps the two things end up similar. But no amount of research can account for the number of variables in life. If we demand that things turn out exactly as expected, chances are, we will be disappointed. If, however, we accept the changes, the edits, as it were, to how we first saw things, we come closer to getting what we expected. Perhaps things don't turn out quite the way we planned. Sometimes, they even turn out better. But either way, if we prepare for change--in our written words or in our daily lives--we become more equipped to handle it.

I would venture to say that most of what we do in life can produce an outcome we didn't expect. The trick to survival, then, is being able to roll with the unexpected, and being open to the idea that what we don't expect might open ideas and doors for us that we might never have considered on our own.
 
I may not have expected the words I proofread, but sometimes, that's just how life is. And one way or another, we just keep reading.