What I wanted most in the world when I was growing up in Toledo, Oregon, was to get married, live in the country, have a big family and a lot of animals. I thought that this was an impossible dream for me. How was I ever going to find someone to marry me. I had lived a pretty sheltered life and hadn’t been around boys much at all. My Dad even worked long hours at his grocery store and wasn’t home many hours during the day. So, boys were a mystery to me. I didn’t relate well with them and I always seemed to misunderstand them. They all seemed to feel the same about me. Mom told me not to worry, that life has a way of working out. She said she had felt the same way when she was growing up and everything had worked out, so not to worry. I also tried to figure out what I wanted to do to support myself. Nothing really appealed to me except for being a Mother. In college I had many different majors trying to figure out what I could do to make a living. In the end my biggest surprise in life is that everything worked out exactly how I wanted it to. Mom was right, I didn’t need to worry. I met and fell in love with Brian the first month I was in college and away from home. I was able to be the mother to five children and stay home to raise them. We usually lived in places with lots of land around us and we had a lot of animals, dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horses and ponies. I feel very happy, fulfilled, grateful and surprised.
Mary Lou
“No! We had a deal. The seller can’t back out like that can they?” I was talking to a Realtor who was explaining that the sellers of a house we wanted to buy had taken the house off the market. Oh, I thought that was horrible. We had finally found a house we could afford in Old Shasta where we wanted to live. Now, it wasn’t going to work out. Within a month, we found another property we could afford in a better location and still within Old Shasta. As it turned out, the property that we first wanted was taken off the market so the owners could sell the house to a friend without realtors. Several years later, we learned that this house ended up having a leaky roof and required expensive repairs. It also was at the bottom of a hill with several houses above it that could look down on them. The property we bought ended up being a much nicer place and was a great place to raise our family. What I thought was a horrible situation turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
This has been a theme throughout my entire life. I seem to have really good guardian angels that look out for me. In reflection, I had a well thought-out career. Each job led to a better opportunity which set up the next job which set up the next opportunity. Actually, an opportunity would present itself, and I would jump in with both feet. I learned to have faith that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I learned to not be afraid of change but to embrace it. So my greatest surprises have come from what I thought at the time was a turn of bad luck.
Brian
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 