Aside from your children, what wonderful things have happened in your life that you never would have anticipated when you were young?

What I didn’t realize as a child is how much better off you are as a child. I always thought everything would be better after I got older. I didn’t realize how scary it would be when you no longer have anyone looking after you and you have to defend yourself against a cold universe that does not care a whole lot about your welfare. On the plus side, you don’t have to ask for permission to buy candy.

I found a wonderful guy that I want to spend my life with. Sounds completely unoriginal, I know. But as a child I grew up in a home where my parents hated each other. My mother was always plotting a way to leave my dad. So I thought that was normal. Now that I have someone who respects me and genuinely cares for me, it’s a good feeling.

That I would love a huge big ten school like Ohio State and finally feel at home when I initially refused to even apply here and went to two other colleges before finding my way here. Everyone convinced me as a shy person I’d fit in better at a small school but such is the not the case for me.

That hugging is nice. I’m like the least touchy feely person ever, so it really surprised me how much I enjoy the physical affection of a very few select people. I was afraid I’d never want to touch my potential spouse, so it has been nice finding out those fears were unfounded.

That the real United States is so much different from what was portrayed in television shows like Dynasty and Dallas.

Getting married young and staying married for as long as I have to my best friend. We’ve been together 18 years now and it keeps getting better.

Also discovering my love of the northwoods of northern Wisconsin and having the opportunity to vacation there each year. Growing up in Las Vegas, I thought I would always be a city girl. It’s funny how your tastes can change as you grow older. It is our dream to move up north. you couldn’t pay me to live in a large city again.

I’m going to go ahead and guess that raw, visceral, and strangely passionate sex in an actual comfortable place without fear that someone’s going to walk in doesn’t count.

Or morning sex.

That I could really enjoy both ends of things that I used to think of as opposites.
-Long stretches of solitude and group and couples activities.
-Writing/communicating and math/problem solving/research.
-Intense exercise and just sitting.

That I could learn so much from pursuing things on my own instead of having to take classes to learn.

I never imagined that such a thing as Fried Ice Cream flavored ice cream available at the grocery store. What more can you ask for?

I never thought I would have the self-confidence to be a teacher of literature and be good at it.

I also never thought that I would have a “place” in Florida and that it would be so much fun to spend time down there. It always struck me as the state where people of my parents’ generation went to live out their “golden years” but it’s really a kick to be there (particularly in the winter.)

Never expected to live in Philly. Never expected to live in NYC. Never expected to be mentally ill. Never expected to have fertility problems.

I enjoyed the first two, and came through the last two with a much greater understanding of a lot of things. I wouldn’t call those last two wonderful, but they have shaped me in ways that I appreciate.

I never would have expected my husband to propose again in the same month he originally did….25 years later. He just felt he didn’t do it right the first time…that was a huge surprise, since I didn’t even realize it was the month of our engagement. It was great the first time, but what was really great was what a wonderful man he has been for all these years….I wish with all my heart that my kids will have this in their lives…

I never expected to travel to other countries and love it so much and become friends with people from South America…and for them to welcome my son into their home and treat him so well…I could never thank them enough for their kindness. I never thought my son would embrace his faith…far more than I, and has encouraged me to do the same. I never knew what strength my daughter had and has…she is my hero…I didn’t realize just how blessed I was and am to have truely wonderful parents.

I must be the luckiest person on earth. My life has turned out exactly as I dreamed it would when I was growing up in Denver. I always wanted a nice house in California, with a picket fence in the front and a swimming pool in the back, and a wonderful husband, some happy kids, and lots of grandkids.

Even though I can’t afford to live by the ocean, which I do want, I can afford to rent a condo on the beach at least twice a year, and sometimes three times.

My childhood was pretty much a “one day at a time” kind of situation and I did not have the luxury of believing there might be a future much less planning for one. But…

There was a time that I never thought I would live in the same city as my sister again, right now I do and it makes me incredibly happy.

I thought I was destined to stay in a passionless and unhappy marriage for the rest of my life. Instead God blessed with the strength to get out of it along with the most incredible man on the planet.

@SuperMouse I would LOVE to live near my sister, I have a fantasy that one day it will happen.