Timeline

I have been thinking about timing a lot lately. Sometimes I end up in the right place at the right time…and other times, I don’t. Maybe it’s because I didn’t plan well enough or it’s just fate. Either way, I believe that, at the risk of sounding cliche, everything happens for a reason. I have figured out why a couple things in high school had to happen to me, but I have not even begun to connect the dots of all the events I experienced in college. Maybe it will be ten years before I ever figure them out. Maybe it will be one year after my college graduation. I can’t be for certain. The one thing I know for sure, though, is that I won’t stop living my life. I only get one of these, you know.

The summer when I was thirteen I did a lot of daydreaming. I was entering the 8th grade and my tastes in music, movies, TV shows and even books were changing. I was getting more interested in the romance genre of everything it seemed. Just ask my brother about this if you have any doubts. I hadn’t had my first boyfriend yet nor was I anywhere close to getting one with my slightly crooked teeth, acne and glasses. It was okay, though, because I had a lot of growing up to do from then until now. Flash forward quickly to age fifteen. In my ninth grade English class, we had to write a composition entitled, “A Difficult Journey.” The journey could be about whatever we wanted it to be, whatever we wanted to face. A few students wrote about an actual trek across a country, others wrote about going off to college like me. I crafted a story about my life in New York City where I was enrolled in college there and how I successfully lived away from my family without getting homesick and met a guy. Well, three years later only one of those parts of the story came true – I did successfully live away from my family without getting homesick (sans two weeks during my freshman year). I did not, however, end up in NYC going to college. Instead, I ended up in Florida where things are a lot warmer. 😉 Maybe one day I’ll end up living my dream in NYC, but for now, I will enjoy where I live right now.

Hit the fast forward button two more times and we now pause at 2012. Ten years ago, I thought I would be in New York, jogging in Central Park one summer day and would literally run into the man I was supposed to end up with. Funny thing about that, about timing. I’ve been nowhere near Central Park all year. Nor have I met anyone with the supposed name I picked out for that guy – as if I, one of the seven billion people on this planet, could have control over just one huge detail of my life! It doesn’t work that way, but try going back in time and explaining that to my thirteen year old self. It’s not going to go over so well. I did meet a guy with the name back in January, but that’s another story. If everything had gone according to my plan at thirteen, there would have been no room for going off to college in Florida, getting immersed in the Latin culture, going on mission trips and going to Spain at age twenty one. I guess you can only think of so many things when you’re a teenager. The same is also true when you are twenty three. I may be a responsible young adult living on my own and away from my parents, but I only have to take care of my needs right now. There isn’t one or two other people vying for my attention, affections or financial support. Just me, thankfully.

I’ve asked myself (and God) for a long time, why hasn’t the right guy come along? I’ve spent the last two to three years and counting being content with living the single life. Prior to that, I would nearly drive myself crazy analyzing every attractive guy I crossed paths with by asking myself, “Is he the one?” “Does he like me?” There were a couple guys with whom a relationship seemed feasible, but the timing was just not right. And the answer was clearly, “No,” from God as well. In my young naive mind, I didn’t understand it at all. God doesn’t want us to be alone, let alone one of his daughters, so why shouldn’t I be in a relationship? It would be nice to have someone care for me for a change or go on adventures with me. My logic seemed to make sense – at least to me it did. A year ago, though, I threw that logic out the window when I heard a podcast from the Boundless show that did a segment on women who married in their thirties, instead of their twenties. Though, I am not near my thirties yet, I decided to pay close attention to advice and insight these three women were giving me and other listeners. One lady’s story in particular intrigued me the most. She was thirty when she met her husband-to-be and he was twenty two. While she was single for most of her young adult life, her husband was just a teenager! She basically had to wait for him to grow up before God allowed their paths to officially cross. Not exactly what she had in mind nor what many older women would have in mind for that matter.

That one part of her very unique story has gotten me thinking. Now, I’m not being discontent with my present singleness, I’m merely curious about how my story will turn out. A story that’s still unfolding. Have you ever considered that the reason why you are single now is because your husband or wife is not old enough to meet you yet? Or maybe you will be the younger one in the relationship and your significant other is older? Or perhaps, the reason you two are not meeting (this is a wild one) is because the U.S has not improved its visa policies for the country your significant other is living in right now. Or maybe you haven’t saved up enough money yet to go to that one country you’ve always wanted to visit your entire life and when you do finally go, you will cross paths with him or her there. The possibilities are truly endless.

And that’s the main point I want to stress here – the possibilities are endless when it comes to meeting the man or woman God has for you. I can’t predict the future, and as I look back over the last ten years, I wouldn’t have wanted to. I live like I don’t like surprises but truthfully, I love surprises! And if I’m going to ruin the surprise of meeting my guy, then I’m going to stop talk-er, writing right now and let God reveal Him to me in His time and in His own way. And who knows, I might get my wish and he might not know English as his first language or have as big of a desire as me to learn and speak Spanish for the rest of his life! Only time will tell, this I know from experience.