The Unexpected Change In The Road: Living your Bucket List Life may be Forced Upon You!
Looking back on our lives,
Reminds us of all the great surprises littered throughout.
By their very nature ... unplanned for.
So the choice is ours…
We can crash and burn from the twist in the road,
Or we can go see what's around that corner.
We can question and doubt ourselves,
Or we can question and Challenge ourselves.
We can GO through it,
Or we can GROW through it!
"But the work is going to be very uncomfortable!"
Yes, and so is doing nothing, giving up, and quitting on yourself.
How uncomfortable is that?
Unexpected forks in the road are always uncomfortable.
We can choose to be overwhelmed,
Or we can 'Ride the Surprise' and see what life offers up!
Here is one of my all time favorite stories about surprising turns in the road:
A day this special didn't come around often the small Greek village of Mikos.
Most of the town had gathered to honor one of it's favorites.
At 6PM, on a day long awaited…
the town of Mikos held its breath.
Captain Antonio reached for the walkie-talkie.
He had fished this ocean bay his whole life.
As a child, tourists paid him to dive to the bottom and bring up an oyster. $10 for a chance at a pearl straight from the Mother Ocean. The tourists didn't need to know...
that Antonio and his brothers dumped fresh oysters into the bay every night. $10 for a 40 pound bag from the local fish market seemed like a very good investment.
With the money he made casting fishing nets from the shore as a teenager, Antonio bought his first boat.
Well, it had the body of a boat anyway, one paddle and a hole where the sail mast was supposed to be.
But it was his!
And he sailed 'Charlotte' for 14 years. His next boat 'Rosy', twice as big and twice as fast, lasted him 30 more years.
Still, Antonio's boat was dwarfed by the really large fishing boats.
Those many years, Captain Antonio watched the enormous ships with great admiration. He dreamed of piloting one of his own. And spent his life planning and saving for one.
Today, his dream is coming true.
This very moment his new ship is sailing into their little bay. His friends and family are celebrating with him at his home overlooking the moonlit ocean. The walkie-talkie barks, “Ready Captain.”
Cheers and laughter can be heard in every part of town!
Captain Antonio clears his throat. Slowly raises the walkie-talkie, emotion constricting his voice, “Bring her around.”
At once, the large crowd cheered the boat as it sailed into view.
Shouts of 'Antonio!', 'Hooray!', 'It's beautiful!' filled the air.
But then, 30 seconds into the cheering a loud 'Thud' was heard over the celebration.
Then two more.
Sirens filled the harbor as people on the boat flung themselves into the water. Fire ignited the back of the boat as it started to fall to one side.
Silence gripped Antonio's celebration as the massive boat lurched up one last time...
and sank into the darkness.
After a very long moment, Antonio let out a deep breath,
and started to laugh very lightly to himself.
Complete silence from everyone else.
No one knew what to say,
Until a small girl approached him…
"I don't understand. You spent your whole life dreaming of that boat. All of your money and time. How can you laugh?"
"Oh my little, Sheba, all the time I had for dreaming, I spent on this. All the money I had to make a dream come true, I spent on this. Now that that dream is complete,…
think of the possibilities…
Think of the Possibilities!"
So for all of us facing an unexpected turn in the road.
Let's take a deep breath together.
And take our first uncomfortable steps into the unknown.
They say a broken bone comes back stronger than before.
