Taking a new path

Originally posted at the former Chicago Moms Blog on June 12, 2009

Taking a new path

Sometimes life is funny. I'm not referring to those life situations where you lock yourself out of your own house and have to send your 3 year old through a window, all the while yelling directions from the ground without scaring him, hoping that he'll get to the front door on time before the security system starts to wail (true story). I'm not even talking about the slapstick moments of slipping on ice in front of a school bus of teenagers; arms flailing, whooping like one of the Stooges and, naturally, cracking the ice with a triumphant SPLAT when your graceful ways prove non-existent.

I refer to the situations where you are presented with what appears to be a tragedy. Your life halts, and the path you are on completely alters. What was once paved and gently curving through a park is now covered in loose gravel and seems to be curving down towards a gulch at an alarming angle. Life becomes unstable and managing the basics of your life is almost foreign.

When our family's lives were rocked by my husband's unexpected job loss (thank you, economy!), we were already in the midst of an ongoing conversation regarding another new path for our household (homeschooling our eldest child). With so many free radicals at once, I would have expected for someone to find me curled in corner, unable to focus. I was tempted, trust me. But strangely, enough, I surprised myself. My husband and I joined together. We stayed optimistic that something would come from this upheaval that was better. We were able to see through the unsettled dust to envision a new way of living. One with a closer family unit. One with more time together. One with new adventures and relationships.

Life can be funny like that...

Though our new path isn't completely solid yet, the angle is no longer as scarily steep.