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Growing Where You're Planted
Through a crack in the thick, hard asphalt, a perfect miniature marigold plant was growing with three tiny blooms on it. I live in a new neighborhood with houses still under construction. Large trucks carrying construction materials travel this road heavily. It isn't the kind of place you would expect anything that grows to survive, let alone thrive.
Somehow, though, this tiny marigold plant managed to push against inches of tar and rocks to find a bit of air and sunshine. It had managed to "grow where it was planted."
My grandmother used to say that: "We have to grow where we are planted." Like that tiny marigold plant, we have to look for the sunshine, even if it means reaching with all our might, only finding it through the cracks and during times when finding a little sunshine may seem impossible.
While examining that tiny marigold, I thought of all the women I've worked with through their divorces, and how resilient they have been. I thought of my years as a military spouse, and all the women I bonded with while our husbands were away in foreign countries. I thought of my mother and my grandmothers and how they taught me that uninvited change can mean new possibilities.
I realized that I had never known a woman who didn't have the capacity to do what that tiny marigold had done. As women, I think we all have the ability to triumph in the face of adversity. We all have taken inspiration from the crack in the sidewalk story. We've all, at one time or another, assessed our situations and made the decision to "bloom where we were planted."
How has uninvited change opened up new possibilities in your life? Share your story with me.
Cathy Meyer is the head of About.com's Divorce Support channel. To hear more from Cathy, go to: divorcesupport.about.com
So You Were An Army Wife????
Just like on Lifetime. Can you tell us more about what life was like in your next columns? I am about to marry someone who is considering a career in the military. I don't think it is for me but I have been dating this guy for a few years
Thank you
Mary
Hi Mary
Thanks for commenting. I was an Air Force wife and loved the lifestyle. The marriage was hard but the lifestyle was one big adventure. I had the opportunity to form friendships that I would have never formed had it not been for the Air Force.
I lived in and visited places I probably would have never seen if it weren't for the Air Force. I have to admit though that it all would have been so much better if I had been married to someone I was more compatible with.
The new lifetime series became a favorite of mine. The bond the wives have with each other is an accurate depiction of what it is like to be a military spouse.
It isn't a lifestyle that is for everyone but, if you want to travel, see and experience places other than the U.S. and love the man you are with it is worth any sacrifices you have to make.
Cathy