The Universe Has A Plan

The events of the past couple years could be viewed as a series of catastrophic events leading to the total destruction of everything that I had come to know and love as MY world.....OR...as a not so gentle nudge by the universe in the direction that I was meant to be going.  After a day spent telling children they are important, they are smart, they are kind, they are the kind of people that the world should be made up of....the kind of people we all were before we got lazy, or tired, or beaten, or broken....before no one took the time to fix us.  After a day of stolen "I love you's" to a man I never would have met without taking on a project that even to the most daring of devils would seem rushed.  After a day of helping to fill in the hairline fractures of hurt and loss in these beautiful little humans with caring and honesty and steadfastness.  After a day of seeing these little sponges soak in every drop of who I am and wonder at the marvel's of the superhero standing before them.  After a day like that...I lean towards the latter.

A grand total of 15 years in the theme park world has introduced me to some of the most amazing performers in the world, some of the most amazing PEOPLE in the world.  It taught me patience, it taught me tact, it taught me to think on my feet and role with the punches, it taught me to yes and, it taught me to read your audience, it taught me that if you don't believe what you are saying then no one will, it taught me that every word you say must be said as if it is the absolute most important thing to be said at that moment, it taught me to listen to children, it taught me to believe in magic, it taught me that people can change, it taught me that we truly can be anything we want to be if we believe it hard enough, it taught me that All the world's a stage...and sometimes the people we care about turn out to be the villain, it taught me that the villain sometimes is only doing what they think is the best choice, it taught me to understand fear and bend it to my will, it taught me that fairy-tales aren't there to make us fear dragons in our lives...fairy-tales are there to teach us that all of those dragons can be slain.  Without the time I spent in those magical lands I never would have been as prepared to renew hope and wonder and magic for these kids.  In fact, I never would have met my boss, I never would have taken a leap to Tennessee, I never would have met my TJ.

My two years with Rodney.  Without all of the good and the bad and the loss that those years filled me with I never would have been able to appreciate my own worth.  I never would have been able to look a child in the eyes and tell them that loving someone doesn't mean they are right.  Loving someone doesn't make someone's actions okay.  That sometimes loving someone is WHY you let go.  That NO ONE should ever be able to make you value yourself less.  That the people who truly love you will only build you up.  And hardest of all, that it isn't always their fault.  Some people just never learned how to love.  It doesn't mean they love you any less, it just means they don't know HOW to love you.

My time with Rodney also taught me to communicate.  If you feel slighted...let it be known.  If you feel undervalued....show them what they could lose.  If you are finding most promises empty...bring the hollow words to light.  If you are wounded...don't let it fester.  And that if any of these things are happening...loving the other person won't make it go away.  Loving the other person only makes each cut sting more.  The only cure is to let tell them how you are feeling, to say it with love and tact, and hope they can do the same.  Once the cards on the table it is much easier to stack them into a solid foundation.

My Culinary schooling taught me to trust my instincts and not to underestimate myself.  We are smarter than we think.  We are more capable than we imagine.  We are more popular than we know.  The moments we think no one is watching, someone is watching and counting on us to make the right decision.  When we think we can't, we can.  When we think we are done, we just started.  When we think it's impossible, it's not even improbable.

This is truly only the tip of the tapestry but every moment mattered.  Every person mattered.  If I had followed the path of least resistance I would probably be delivering mail right now.  Would I be better off financially, most likely.  Would I be happy, who knows?  Would I be better off spiritually, decidedly not.  I am changing the world.  I am mending people.  The Universe has a plan, when you feel it tug, be scared..but leap anyway.  You will either land in a beautiful pool you never saw ahead of you or continue down the rapids for a bit longer.  Regardless, it's EXACTLY where you are supposed to be.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/williamsha166828.html#1SLD88msA13VrwvI.99