This weekend marks the one year anniversary of living in this house, and as with a lot of anniversaries, it gives me a chance to step back and reflect on all that has happened between then and now.
When I was getting the house ready for us to move in, I tried to set this house up for us to have everything we could need. I had good friends that guided me through most of the big things (shout out to Allie, JJ and John), but as a woman in my mid-40's, I felt qualified to buy the household items we would need.
Turns out I was wrong.
One of the household things I wanted to make sure to have was an ironing board. Tonight, when I was folding the laundry with Diana, I burst out laughing when I saw it.
It's still in the plastic.
Last year at this time, I fully believed that I would have a big need for an ironing board. It was a reasonable belief - I had a job where I wear clothes that need to be ironed, and we wore things to church that needed to be ironed. That belief was based on the facts of my life at the time.
Then, life changed. A lot. You all know what happened because it happened to you too. We stopped going to church in person. We started doing school and work from the house. We had basically everything delivered. Our wardrobes reflected the change - we stocked up on comfy clothes and anything that needed to be ironed has stayed on the hanger for the past year.
So, what does this tell me? Three things:
We do the best we can with the information we have at the time.
When life changes, we make different decisions.
I haven't missed ironing. (Okay, I have NEVER liked ironing, so this one isn't all that revealing.)
There was no way I could have anticipated how all of our lives were going to change in 2020, so when I was stocking on up things for the house, I made the best decision I could at the time. If 2020 has taught me anything, it's that I can't predict the future. I can only deal with what is right in front of me, and whether that decision is about buying an ironing board or something bigger like deciding on whether we should do virtual or in-person school, I can only reliably try to do the next right thing. I can't chart a path that is written in stone or plan out how the rest of the day is going to go, much less a year - and what's more, I'll make myself nuts if I try to.
So, for now, that ironing board will stay on standby for when I am allowed to go back into work on a regular basis and we feel comfortable going back to church in person again. It will also stand as a reminder that I am doing the best I can with what I know today - and that tomorrow, I'll do the same.
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