Fate Had Other Plans
I like to think I’m in charge of my own life. I’ve got color-coded calendars, synced reminders, and a to-do list that could scare a project manager. My inner control freak sleeps better when everything fits in a nice, neat box.
But every so often, fate rolls her eyes, tosses my list in the air, and says, “Cute plan. Watch this.”
It’s never dramatic at first. Usually it starts with some tiny glitch—Wi-Fi dying during a meeting, a dog emergency, or the weather deciding to monsoon on my “productive” day. I huff, I mutter, I question all my life choices. And then, like clockwork, something unexpected falls into place. I’ll stumble across an old photo, get a call from someone I’ve been meaning to reach, or realize that fate just canceled my plans so I could actually notice my own life.
That’s the thing about fate—she’s not subtle. She’s passive-aggressive in the way only the universe can be.
One of the earliest times fate flexed her sense of humor was when I was job hunting. I’d applied to be a computer trainer and never heard back. What I didn’t know was that my resume had already been tossed into the reject pile. The only reason I got an interview was because the secretary at my boyfriend’s office was roommates with the woman doing the hiring. He asked her to mention my application, they fished my resume out of the “no” stack, and decided to call me in. Later, they told me, “We weren’t expecting much”—but I surprised them, and I was hired. Apparently, fate knew I just needed one roommate connection to change everything.
After watching what Lisa went through with adoption—the waiting, the paperwork, the heartbreak—I knew it was fate that I had biological kids. I would’ve tapped out halfway through. It wasn’t luck that our stories were different; it was fate knowing exactly which one of us had the patience to survive all that red tape (hint: not me).
Then there was the time we went skydiving for Craig’s 40th birthday. The week before, Mom had been… well, let’s just say she was having a rough week with gravity. There were trips, slips, and maybe a bruise or three. So when it came time to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, we all decided fate had spoken loud and clear: Mom was staying on the ground. We joked that fate had already spent her “guardian angel overtime” on Mom for the week.
And the best one? I was sitting around thinking how much I wanted a real friend—someone I could talk to about life, ideas, and all the random chaos that fills my brain. Out of nowhere, Alison called to share a business opportunity. Fate used networking as her cover story, but it was never about business. That phone call turned into one of the most solid, soul-saving friendships of my life.
So yeah, I still make my lists. I still organize my days like I’m the boss of the universe. But fate and I both know the truth: she’s the one writing in the margins of my planner.
Every time I think I’m off track, fate’s just updating the itinerary without telling me.
These days, I’m learning to stop fighting her edits. Sometimes I cross things out, sometimes I rewrite the plan, and sometimes I just close the book and let fate handle the schedule for a while.
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