Take Life as it Comes

I was thinking about this prompt and looking back on December 17 in years past. Let’s start with last year.

I was on a boat sailing towards the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on December 17 2024. I definitely didn’t have that on my radar the previous year! It was a possibility that we would go to Australia for my cousin’s 80th birthday on Christmas Day, but I didn’t have a trip to the reef on the plans.

Going back 22 years, we were in Australia once again. The previous year I had been in the first year of an expected two year stay in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I was in a school with a very unpleasant line manager who didn’t want anything to do with an English teacher who needed support so she decided to go completely the opposite way. Leaving there, however, was actually a great catalyst to my career. 21 years ago I had just finished my Masters degree in Australia, a degree I didn’t even know I was going to do a year earlier! I got a Distinction and that gave me the opportunity to end up teaching at university in the UK.

31 years ago I was in Kidderminster in Worcestershire working at the Town Hall dealing with everything to do with that venue. It was one of my favourite jobs ever, but I was only working there because no one would give me a job as an Economics and Business Studies. I had just applied for a job in Japan on the JET Programme, but that was a ridiculous roll of the dice. No way was I going to get a job there was I? A year later I was looking forward to my first Christmas abroad!

Finally, 38 years ago today, I was preparing to see a former colleague of mine at my local pub. A year earlier I was unemployed and struggling to find another job. I went to the job centre just after Christmas and found a job with the Unemployment Benefit Office! Anyway, I was happy to be meeting up with Janet again and it turned out to be a good decision. In September we celebrated our 35th anniversary!

So there you have it. Life will always throw you unexpected situations. It’s up to you to deal with them.