I dreamed a dream.

When you're young, the world belongs to you, or so it feels. People tell you to reach for the stars and to keep trying no matter what. That utopia lasted about 17 years and now it is slowly crumbling before my eyes.

No, it's not that I lost all my dreams, or that I never had any, that's not the point. Dreams that I thought were mine never really materialized. So, for example:

• I wanted to be a doctor, go to Africa, live in the jungle, and save children dying from malaria.
• I wanted to play piano in Carnegie Hall to thousands of adoring fans.
• My sister and I were going to be famous actresses and playwrights (yes, those of you who have seen my try to act, don't feel obligated to rein in your laughter).
• In my spare time I would become a veterinarian because let's face it, cats are so cute.
• I planned on living in Australia for a couple of years working on my killer accent.
• I was going to attend Yale University and major in journalism.
• One day I was going to have pink hair.

You get the picture. I had plans, big plans. The above were supposed to define my life and make me a better person. Well, the status quo proves that none of the above have happened (albeit the whole dying my hair pink, because I did have a nice neon streak in it this past summer). Not to be Debbie Downer, but none of the above will probably ever happen to me.

Please don't mistake this post as pity party for one. It's just that God has given me other dreams that I never planned. Although the things I have accomplished aren't nearly as ostentatious as what I had hoped in my younger days, they have been well worth my time.

I never know what blessings God is going to send down the pipe. To be honest, it's kind of more fun that way (although it freaks the living daylights out of me sometimes).

So, here's to dreams that I've never dreamed, plans I never made, and accomplishments that I never foresaw.

P.S. If you aren't so good at reading in between the lines then: I am really trying to be content with where God has put me right now. Nothing has gone the way I planned, and while I'm not living a miserable life, it is definitely not what I had expected it to be like.