To say that 2011 was a year of transition would be an understatement. I started the year as a PhD student at Michigan State University, living a thousand miles away from my husband and feeling very disconnected from the things that mattered most in my life. I am finishing the year living in the same apartment as my wonderful husband, back working in the private sector for a great company and focused on the things that really matter to me. While there are some things that did not fall into place as I had hoped; overall, it has been a pretty good year and I am very grateful for that.
Until recently, very few of our plans have gone the way we anticipated the past couple of years. This has meant that we have spent a lot of time in a holding pattern. Waiting to make decisions until pieces fell into place, or we had come up with an alternative plan. Since I am the type of person who likes to have control and a plan, this has made the past few years a bit stressful. It is hard when you are doing everything in your power to get things to go the way you want and they keep falling apart. I am slowly learning to accept that life often takes us down an unplanned path, and it normally turns out okay.
