Life is a lesson

When I was young I had my life all mapped out. I was going to get married, have two children, teach figure skating and coach an athlete to a world competition and then, in my retirement, judge figure skating. Well, somehow life did not imitate my dreams because this is not my life now.

Let me start by saying that I love my life now, but it has taken me a few years to get over the disillusion that life doesn’t always happen as we plan, and that if we want to stay on this journey with any hope of peace and enjoyment, we need to roll with what comes along and learn from it.

My name is Karen and I’m 51 years young. I have a wonderful husband, Steve, and a son, Jacob, who is 13 years old and also my joy and my pain. We live on an acreage on top of a mountain and share our house with three cats, a dog and a bearded dragon; and our land with bears, bobcats, deer coyotes and other creatures. I’m also a step-parent to four adult children and, as a by-product, a grandparent to 11 (soon to be 12) very active kids ranging from 7 years to 11 months.

As I enter my 51st year of life, I can honestly say that I have accomplished quite a bit and most of it was not intentional. My life has been a series of lessons that I hope I can share with others who may have experienced the same ideas of what life should be, only to find out that sometimes there is an even better story with a different journey.

Join me as I share my journey of how my life changed from those childhood dreams, and how along the way I grew into a mother, a wife and a career that I never thought possible.