I’m Right Where I Need To Be

Posted May 19, 2021 by Prairie Wife - 5 comments

I’m right where I need to be.

The other day as I was driving back alone from giving a talk in Saratoga and I had one of those times where I was suddenly and completely struck by the importance of the moment.

The last time I had driven that road by myself I was in college, dating The Cowboy and driving to go visit him while he worked on a road construction job somewhere in the Northern part of Wyoming.

A medley of country music songs that I hadn’t heard in years began to play on the radio, and I cranked up the volume and put down the windows, breathing in that gorgeous Wyoming Spring air.

As I looked out onto the prairie, taking in the wide blue sky and the unbroken view of grass, sagebrush, and mountains, and craggy hills, tears started to stream down my face.

“Holy shit,” I thought.

The last time I drove solo on this road I was dating The Cowboy and every single thing I have NOW was simply a dream.

Heck, most of what I have now was barely a dream then…it was something I didn’t have the audacity to even BEGIN to dream.

My biggest wildest dream at that time was to be married to The Cowboy, have a few kids, and have a nice home I was proud of with air conditioning, a garage, and some room for the aforementioned kids to roam.

Well, we can check all of that off the list as accomplished!

If you had told me then that not only would I have The Cowboy, the kids, and the home BUT I would also be paid to travel around the state as a speaker AND have a radio show AND be a writer (I would have had no idea what blogging was back then) I would have laughed in your face.

Actually, I probably would have been mad.

Because at that time I had been working my butt off to graduate with a degree in education.

Sacrificing SO much to get to that graduation day…working graveyard shifts, skipping fun out with friends, living off of tuna fish sandwiches and diet Pepsi…with my eye on the prize.

I absolutely would have NEVER believed you if you told me that not only was my hard-earned degree gathering dust but that I would never want to go back to teaching once I stopped!

But now, looking at that girl with almost 20 years of experience and life I know it wasn’t a waste.

I’m right where I need to be.

I use all those skills I learned as a teacher to connect and teach my audiences as a speaker.

Being fluid and flexible and quick on my feet is a skill I definitely learned as a first-grade teacher for 5 years, and something I need not only as a mom but in my career in radio and emceeing events…where “nothing ever goes as planned” is the only thing you can be sure of.

In those moments as the tears continued to stream down my face I thanked God over and over for the gifts that he has heaped upon me, and I felt so incredibly grateful and so undeniably certain that I was right where I need to be… then and now.

I called The Cowboy, and after I assured him through my gaspy crying that I was indeed just fine and that YES they were happy tears, I thanked him.

I thanked him for the work and time he has put into turning our dreams into the beautiful life we have.

I thanked him for his support (though it was hesitant at first) of this blog and all the opportunities it has brought my way.

I thanked him for his love and leadership and most of all I thanked him for taking a chance on that naive girl he met at the beer tent at Frontier Days.

I’m right where I need to be.

And even in the stressful chaos that is admittedly my life right now, I stand firm in the fact that God is good all the time, and that His timing is always right.

I’m right where I need to be.

#gritandgrace

Categories: Life As It Happens

Tags: , change, god is good, god's timing, growing, growth, how we grow, looking back, personal growth, right where I need to be