The Plan

In college we all had our predictions for our lives ahead. We were teenagers and in our naivety had everything laid out and perfectly lined up in order, hoping to traipse through the whole lot as we got older. Amongst other things I had specifically the following (and yes, it's about that subject again); as long as everything went to plan, I was to:

1. Meet and get to know the woman of my dreams at 24
2. Marry her at 26
3. Have a kid with her at 28

I had long discarded this plan, way before I had hit the age of 24. I had arrived in reality by then and realised, through the experiences of others, that things didn't really work that way. It always was a silly premise, but regardless of that the general theme of "avoiding women till I was ready" stuck. And thinking about it now, doing something like this is definitely typically me.

Despite throwing the above schedule out of the window before it had even begun, I do have to admit feeling a pang of disappointment on both my 24th and 26th birthdays, as I categorically failed each respective checkpoint. I did look on the positive though; it wasn't all bad since I could always catch up with the schedule. I'd just have to squeeze up on phases one and two a bit and I'd be back on track again. Easy.

However, as of 9am this morning, that possibility ceased to be the case. I am now officially and unequivocally overdue on all three counts and The Plan pretty much lies in tatters. Now, this isn't Yet Another Post About Shak Being Single (well ok, maybe it is a bit), but I do find it interesting how sometimes even the best laid plans go to pot.

In retrospect it was pretty foolish to create such a schedule in the first place, especially since it meant staying away from anything (or anybody?) that didn't figure in The Plan at the right time. I wouldn't say that I'm regretful now or that I had missed some very good opportunities, but there is a chance that things could have been different if I had held a different mindset for the past few years.

Still, as I have explained already, my confidence in this plan had been lost a long time ago and it's not like I'm feeling like a failure now or anything. But the funny thing is that, despite the above thoughts on the matter, I'm still going to go ahead and set an absolute age limit with respect to this particular matter. And furthermore, this time, I'm going to try and stick to it at whatever cost.

Some people just don't learn, I guess.