Expecting the unexpected

As with any year, the holiday season brings with it great memories and thoughts of the future. Memories from the year prior remain etched in our mind as we look forward to the New Year. I, like many, gaze with apprehensive eyes. For with each new day, we expect the same while hoping for brighter horizons. We seemingly cannot avoid apprehension as others voice their intentions of creating a better path, making more viable choices, or even turning the page on a story seemingly written as a endless rerun.

Regardless of our intentions, be it our attempts to create a more productive self, or to view others in a more empathetic light, we are seemingly forced to confront our own pessimistic thoughts as the days pass us by. We must guard ourselves from the reoccurring pattern of contentment which can many times overtake our desires for success and render us expecting little more than routine conformity to the skeletons of our past. As quoted by Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, “If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trial”.

Although, I many times set out with the purest intentions with the dawn of each new day, I, many times, falter and fail to see the good, or expect more than the norm. I was forced to confront my own pessimism awhile back, at the hands of my at the time six-year-old daughter. My youngest is well known to be the highly motivated comedian who gives minimal thought to conforming to the everyday rules and procedures known as societal norms. Rather, she normalizes experiences and her adventurous exploration, while thinking outside the box. It is not uncommon for her to develop a solution out of the air similar to the 80’s television hit, MacGyver, all the while bearing a smile large enough to melt any questioning heart.

My child, in 2019, decided she wanted a “bunny” rabbit and commenced stopping at every wishing well and Santa Claus within the lower Missouri region over that year voicing her request. I’m certain she even put more pressure on by voicing her request during her nightly prayers of thanks. Now understand, her parents were not overly keen on the idea of an additional living creature in the house, having even gone so far as requesting the short life span model through the local pet store. To our dismay, and through a barrage of store worker laughter, we came to discover those models were nonexistent.

The decision, following some soul searching, was made to answer the child’s request, and allow Santa to deliver the new family member on Charismas Eve in 2019. My wife and I fully expected the little white bundle of joy to carry with it a day or two’s excitement then become like many of the other items, merely another chore for daddy or older sister to daily engage in until its eventual expiration.

Here I sit, years later, bewildered at the resilience of not only little “Fluffy” the rabbit, but with my child. Where I was certain she would falter and loose interest, she and her sister have remained committed. Where I expected the battle of responsibility, they have maintained and exceeded. Where I hoped, but maintained little faith, my children have educated me. My child has proven herself and although short in duration, has stepped up to the plate and become a responsible caregiver.

Her sister voicing her intent on pressuring Santa for a hedgehog… where on earth does one find a hedgehog?

Life, it seems, is riddled with the unexpected. If we merely open our eyes to the ultimate possibilities and the basic resilience of the human desire, we may just watch the unexpected unfold before our eyes.

Fluffy isn’t all that small any more

Richard J. Stephens lives in Carter County and is the father of three little ladies ranging in age from eight to 29.