The Trick

Soon after Paul and I got engaged, our ward had a talent show.  For his talent, Paul got up and started to juggle.  I started to hyperventilate because I had NO CLUE that Paul could juggle.  I remember sitting there thinking, "He can juggle.  I am going to marry him and he can juggle, what else don't I know?!!!"  I am happy to say that everything I have ever learned about Paul has been a delightful surprise: "oh you can juggle? oh you can pull apart a dishwasher and tell me that yes it is really broken and then put it all back together?"  And now you ask why this story?  Because I always have to tell the back story- right Mom? :-)

I have watched Paul juggle many times since that fun day 16 years ago.  Have you ever watched someone juggle?  It can be pretty complex.  The last month or so I have started to imagine myself juggling.  I imagine it this way: on any given day I am juggling a minimum of 6 balls, sometimes more.  Most of the time, I am doing a great job keeping the balls moving consistently and well balanced.  Sometimes I have to reach further for a ball that may start to move outside the path.  I am doing a pretty basic pattern to keep everything moving, but many times I am throwing some pretty spectacular moves to keep things going.  You catch my drift.

About a month ago I realized that it felt like all of my balls were in the air at the same time.  We are waiting to see where things will land.  Here is a short list: we don't know where 4 of our children will attend school next year, I need to find a piano teacher/s for 5 of the kids, Nathan's tonsils are severely enlarged and we need to figure that out, etc.  There is nothing big, just a lot of unknowns.  I am not especially worried about where things will fall- it is just an interesting sensation to be watching all these different parts of our life and wonder what my juggling act will look like a few months from now.

For some reason I keep thinking of this quote:

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts  don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .
 
Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.
-President Gordon B. Hinckley (quoting Jenkin Lloyd Jones).   

Despite the unknown, despite the energy it takes to juggle, I am grateful everyday that this is my life.