I am trying to recall the exact details of a story my father told me once about a curse that was put on him...
Once upon a time, many many years ago, my father went to the zoo. The zoo-keeper that was leading the tour he was on had incredibly furry ears, so my father could help but laugh to his friends about it. (I can imagine the kind of jokes you might make about a zookeeper with furry ears.) Well, the zoo-keeper heard him and was rightfully offended. He scolded my father and told him that from now on when he was bold enough to say he hoped something never happened to him (ie. like growing fuzz on his ears), that very thing would happen.
I'll have you know, that thanks to my dad, I too suffer from the "Never say 'Never'" curse. Let me tell you a few of the things I have said would never happen, that did.
My family drives from Massachusetts to Ohio every summer to Grandma's house. We spend at least half of this drive getting across the state of Pennsylvania. On a long car ride, nothing is worse than feeling like you aren't getting anywhere fast, so I always hated the Pennsylvania stretch of the road. I would say "I hate this stupid state. I would never want to live here". HAH! When I applied to colleges I got a mysterious acceptance letter from Messiah College, in Grantham PA. I didn't recall applying there, and once again I said "I don't even want to look at the school, I don't want to live in Pennsylvania". But, of course, in the interest of seeing all my options, my mom took me to visit and I fell in love with the campus. Not only did I spend 4 years of college in PA, but my fiance is in the PA National Guard, so we will be living there after we get married. I've found it's really not that bad of a state after all. :)
Here are just a few of the larger things I had set my mind against:
1. Switching majors in college (because I didn't want to be one of 'that statistic' of people that don't know from the start what they want to do.
2. Getting married after knowing somebody a short period of time (because how could you possibly "know" without spending years dating a person)
and here's the kicker, #3. Never ever ever, in a million years, would I marry somebody in the armed forces. No way.
God is sitting up there laughing and laughing at me.
Not only did I decide I had to change majors from Business to Social Work, and then bust my butt to finish school on time, but David Berry had to come along and ruin everything I thought about marriage and who I would fall for.
Our first date, after half a day of knowing David, I knew I wanted to marry him. I felt like such a hypocrite calling my friends and saying "I know he is the one" and then warning people that summer that we would probably be engaged within a year - a blissfully happy hypocrite.
In 84 days I will be marrying a soldier - probably the biggest thing I said I would never do. And, wouldn't you know it, I am actually psyched to be an Army wife! I have always admired the women who were able to be strong wives and mothers while their husbands were out giving the ultimate sacrifice. I just never thought I could handle the stress and anxiety myself.
I went from never wanting anything to do with the armed forces, to having it as a large part of my life.
By now, almost all of the important men in my life are in the service. My fiance, his brother, many of my cousins, and now, my own brother.
Yesterday, my brother was sworn into the National Guard. I still remember when he first told me that he wanted to be a soldier. It was his second week in the USA (he is adopted from Haiti), and we were out walking when I asked him what he wanted to do when he graduated high school. With a strong accent he said "Join the army!". I actually started crying - unable to bear the thought of possibly losing my brother when had just waited 7 years to bring him to this country. Every time I saw an National Guard commercial I would try to push back this nagging feeling that it would some day affect me in a big way.
I remember when I first brought David home to meet the family, and Argusto gave me this satisfied smile that said "now that you're dating a soldier you can't very well tell me I can't be one".
Two years later, I could not be more proud of my brother. It is truly an honor in my mind that a man from another country would be willing to risk his life to fight for ours. I'm really glad that I have gained enough perspective to see past the scary parts of having a loved one in the armed forces, so that I can embrace the privilege of knowing such amazing men and women.
Nowadays, I am a lot more realistic about what could "never" happen to me - because really, anything is possible. When I try to control my life God loves to blow my mind by making my impossible come true. Though I affectionately refer to this phenomena as a curse, so many unexpectedly wonderful things have come about in my life that I never thought could be so good. I tend to want to be safe and do things within my comfort zone, but when I have had to give up my own control I have found myself incredibly blessed. I'd love meet that hairy-eared zoo-keeper man and thank him for drawing the attention to the fact that life doesn't always happen exactly the way we've planned it.
Never say "Never", because the things you fear can turn out to be the best things in your life.
