Life: The Five Year Plan.

Last night the man in my life asked where I see myself in five years. Five years? Ouch.

Five years from now, I can hope to be many things. I can hope to be sober, successful and true to my beliefs. I can aspire to be more comfortable in my own skin. I can dream about working portionately less and playing considerably more. I can hope and aspire to a time five years from now, but will it matter when it's today that really counts?

Where will I be? Who will I be? The more important question is that wherever I am, at that point in my life, will I be living to my fullest capacity? Am I bringing the most to my life today, tomorrow AND five years from now?

So, I sat down and thought about a five year plan. I wrote feverishly this morning....goal setting, planning, categorizing my life on one 5x7 piece of journal paper. I wrote down all the scenarios I could see myself in...and all the ones I could not. I made a list of the people I wanted in my life and the people to take off the Christmas list. I thought about money I may make and the money I may spend on various personal amenitites. I may be with my man. I may not. The possibilities seem endless to me at this point, where once they were limited.

And then it hit me. I can plan to my heart's content but life is unpredictable. Perhaps I will finally teach in Ghana. Perhaps I will be strong and woman enough to get all the things that I want on my list. Perhaps I will not even live to see five years from now....Perhaps is not a word I find favorably in my personal dicitionary. To me, "perhaps" is an excuse. "I will" becomes my mantra.

In five years, I will be flying out of the holding pattern I sometimes find myself in. In five years, I will continue the plan that includes living in the present. In five years, I will still not be able to take back the past and predict the future.

So, five years from now, I may be living in a different place or I may have different people in my life, but I will still be the woman I am today.....perhaps with some more gray hair, but very much of the same determination and will to live life.