Day 14: your life in 7 years
In seven years, I’ll be a few months away from turning 55. I will have been married for nearly 31 years.
Today, I’m on the verge of having two teenage offspring. In seven years, my younger child will be two months away from being 20, and my firstborn will have finished almost all of her first quarter century of life.
Last September 18 was the seventh anniversary of the day we left NYC and moved to Ohio. So much has changed in those seven years. I have changed, for the better, I think. I could not have anticipated all that has happened since we moved here, so it is hard for me to project so far into the future — especially since I’ve worked so hard to learn how to live one day at a time.
Here’s a stab at speculation:
In seven years, I hope to have parlayed all of these blog entries into a career in writing. I am working everyday to hone my writing skills. I’m writing down ideas for things to write about so that I don’t forget them. I don’t know if I have the great American novel in me, but I know that I’m passionate about writing and I think I can get good enough at it to develop an audience. Yes, I’m a musician by training and profession, and I will always be a musician, but the music business has become increasingly difficult to navigate over the last 25 years. I want to explore other areas of my creativity and go wherever they take me. I could go pretty far in seven years.
I will realize my goal of running at least one marathon. I hope to do that before I’m 50.
Our older child will have finished college and will be on her way to a happy life and successful career. Our son will be in college, even though I’m sure he’ll still be struggling to conquer the difficulties that his autism presents.
We will finally pay down some of our debt, if not all of it. At that point we’ll be only five years away from paying off our mortgage. Then we can really begin to renovate our house.
By this time, unfortunately, we are likely to only have one dog. Michael will probably be gone by then.
My mom will be 85, if she is still with us. My birth parents will be in their seventies.
My dad will have been gone nearly 10 years, and my grandma for almost 13.
John will be celebrating over 14 years working at Oberlin, if I know how steadfast and loyal he is.
In all honesty, life will continue to go on as it has for the last seven years. People will come and go, things will come and go, and life will ebb and flow as it always has. I will continue to learn the lessons life has to teach me, slowly but surely, one day at a time. There’s no guarantee that I’ll even be here in seven years. After all, man plans and God laughs. In all the years I’ve lived and all the crazy I’ve gone through, I’ve come to understand that God has a tremendous sense of humor. In our relationship, He’s sure to have the last laugh.
Today is nearly over. I’ve been blessed to reach the end of another day. I’m hoping I wake up to see another. Then we’ll see how that one goes.
Let’s see, shall we?
violamom2tellsall 