Arrivals and Departures

Every day is a journey, or so they say. Life is filled with constant changes in travel, in phases of our existence. I like to think of it as a constant flow of arrivals and departures. We arrive at the completion of one life experience, and race through the terminal in time to depart on the next.
My life before marriage and children was one of those phases, a journey of self discovery and hopes of an exciting future. After leaving home for college, I embarked on that journey, departed for parts unknown and hoped for a safe and eventful arrival in my imagined future life. The funny thing about life is that we really don't have as much control as we'd like to think we do. We think we have it all figured out, and then there's a change in the itinerary, and the real driver behind that wheel takes us to parts unknown, to a future we never imagined.
After arriving (or so I thought) to the college experience I had dreamed of, I spent three years wandering aimlessly through classes, parties, and other nonsense, only to depart for home.
I left school on a new journey, one meant for recovery and healing, something unexpected and not exactly what I had planned for. What I found when I arrived home was just that: safety, familiarity, security, and ultimately happiness. That journey brought me to my family, my friends, and ultimately my husband, and now two beautiful little girls. That departure from what I thought I wanted, only helped me to arrive to where I am now, where I know I'm meant to be.
And so, we depart again, on a new excursion, a trip to parts unknown, as Nate is deployed. I can surely say that it's not one I'm looking forward to, but one I know we have to make. As with everything else in life, we'll face it head on, take it as it comes, deal with it the best we can, and try to survive through it. Because at this point, that's all we can do. Through it all, I hope to become a stronger person, a better mom for my girls, and an even better wife for my husband who is sacrificing it all. Life is a journey no matter what the destination, how we get there, or when we arrive. It may not be pretty, people, but I know I will have survived through it one way or another; I will have arrived.