I like planning. I lay out my outfits for the next day every single night. I think of what I want to eat for breakfast, and get out bowls, spoons, and glasses at the table. I wake up every morning and make a list of the things I need to do that day. I carry my planner everywhere I go at school and fill that thing out like it’s my job. I am just much more comfortable living life by a schedule.

But sometimes we stumble into the best things in life without any sort of planning.

I recently read a fantastic book, “100 Sideways Miles” by Andrew Smith. I highly recommend it. You know it’s a good story when it makes you smile, cry, and laugh out loud. My dream is to someday be able to write something that has that affect on people. Anyways, as I shut the book, I thought to myself, “how in the world did I even get this book?” I remember walking through the library one day, not looking for anything in particular. I was reading the inside flaps, and frankly just wasting time so I didn’t have to go back to class. I read the inside of 100 Sideways Miles and immediately knew I had to check it out. See, the boy in the story, tells time in miles. The Earth travels at 20 miles per second, and this is his form of time. That is the reason I had to read it.

I did not plan on reading that by any means, and it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read.

There are two other major things in my life that I didn’t plan on. And they are both sitting on my couch as we speak.

As a child, I had big dreams. I knew that I wanted a boyfriend someday, as most little girls do. I also wanted a pink Jeep, lots of shoes, plus a dog I could fit in my purse and carry around, like a boss. I kind of nixed the pink Jeep idea. I still want a large collection of shoes. And now I have four dogs, only one is small though.

Yesterday at 10 am, we had three dogs. My family is the kind of family that decides to randomly go buy a dog. I love my family. No planning whatsoever, they just woke up and saw an ad for Golden Retriever puppies. They drove an hour and a half away and bought one. It was awesome. Yesterday at 3 pm, we had four dogs. The puppy, a little boy named Cooper, loves giving kisses. Cooper is a sweetheart, and I am so happy he is in our life.

The other unplanned blessing, who is currently watching Netflix on my couch, came into my life a few months ago. I’ll start from the beginning.

Dani and I go to Scooter’s, a small coffee shop that’s popular in Nebraska, every Friday after school. We’ve done this every single Friday since August. We use this as our time to catch up on the week’s gossip, and plan our weekend adventures. One Friday in particular, mid-September, Dani and I saw a boy typing on a laptop inside. This was a tad unusual, there is hardly ever anyone in Scooters at 1:30 on Friday’s. So we walk in, and Dani say’s, “Oh, hi!” The boy turned out to be her neighbor, and a graduate of our school. In our small town, everyone knows everyone. But, the boy was unfamiliar to me. Sure I recognized him, but I didn’t personally know him. He ended up sitting with us, and we talked for a while. The thing I recall the most about that day, was how much we laughed. I remember thinking that he was so funny, and pretty cute too.

And now, about five months later, that same boy is holding my new puppy, patiently waiting for me to finish writing this.

Point being, some things happen in life that you never planned on. But everything is part of the big plan, and everyday I am thankful for my unplanned blessings.

-Maddie