Unexpected

​“It’s funny how things never turn out as planned.  The only thing we knew about Henry Porter was that his name wasn’t Henry Porter.”  To me it is true how things do not turn out as planned.
In my head I have it all mapped out.  I will live long and prosper.  No diseases and yukky stuff for me.  Mum and dad will die one day.  I know that in my head, but I never see it as happening on my watch.
I will enjoy a successful career and retire with work colleagues around me who give speeches and send me on my way with gifts.  In retirement I have things to do and wonder how I ever found time to work.  I grow old gracefully with my spouse and one day slip into the great beyond peacefully in my sleep with family and friends around me.
To me, having plans and mapping things out is a good idea.  I just always need to realize the plans are playdough, not concrete.
I saw a movie ages ago and I have forgotten the name of it but it starred Dudley Moore.  It showed him imagining how everything would go – smoothly and all according to his plan.  It then showed what actually happened.  I thought it was hilarious.
I do find that in general though.  In my head I see things happening a certain way.  It is always a case of minimum effort for maximum reward.  Then I go to do it.  I spend ages perhaps finding what I need.  To say the work is rough is being polite.  Eventually I have what I set out to have but the process has often been more convoluted than it was in my head.  Dad and I used to have a joke.  The saying is “measure twice, cut once.”   We used to say, “measure once, cut twice.”  I reckon we did fairly good work but that summarized what could happen.
It is no wonder it was said, “He is the best man who, when making his plans, fears and reflects on everything that can happen to him, but in the moment of action is bold.”  I do not agree with “fear” but feel when an action is decided on, it needs to be done boldly.
It is a real American Baseball term, but it is true life sends us curve balls.  Maybe it would be better to use a cricket analogy.  Sometimes we are bowled swinging balls.  We play straight down the line with a straight bat but unbeknown to us the bowler has put something on it.  It is designed to catch us out and it works.  We snick it and are caught.
Really in life the only certainty is uncertainty.  I did not see this Covid 19 thing coming.  I knew there was going to be plagues, but I did not expect to wake up one day and have the world so different.  I was not expecting that.
The thing for me is, a lot happens that is unexpected, or if it is expected, it is consigned in my mind to happening a certain way.  Yet so much that happens is out of the blue.  I need to think on my feet.  Adjust.  Deal with what has come my way in a different way.
I think life will always be like that.  The best I can do I think is be ready for the unexpected.