Expectations

We all have expectations in our lives, of how we expect things to work out, or go, and I can tell you, I had great expectations of relaxing and floating in the inner-tube down the Lazy River. I was so looking forward to experiencing the calm, relaxing, carefree inner-tube float down the beautiful man-made river while enjoying hanging with our friends and their families.

Late in the summer my husband and I went camping and to the Lazy River with friends. We arrived on the last weekend of the Lazy River season, and as it turned out, they didn't have enough inner-tubes for all their guests. Being the last weekend, many of the inner-tubes had leaked and weren't in working condition, and had been removed. This was very unlike what I had experienced in years past, where there were more than enough inner-tubes. In fact, as I looked at the Lazy River participants, there were more people walking the Lazy River, than floating on inner-tubes!

I was alarmed, and immediately disappointed, but tried not to show it. All 7 of us starting walking around in the Lazy River. I was not having fun. This was not meeting my expectations of relaxing in the inner-tube and floating down the river, as I had been looking forward to for over a month! Instead, I was walking with the water mostly below my waist-level, and at the deeper levels, just above my waist. Needless to say, I was going through many emotions. We'd traveled the couple hours the day before to camp and enjoy floating down the Lazy River, and now I found myself walking it! I became intrigued that most of my group didn't seem to have a care or at least weren't showing their disappointment. By the time we walked close to the half-way point, I lowered myself into the water so that the water was up to my neck, and I let the current gently push me down the river. My toes would occasionally touch the bottom so I would keep my head afloat, and slow down so I would stay with my group, and I used my arms to balance myself. I was actually having fun!!

Some of our group started doing the same thing, after they saw how much fun I was having. We went around the Lazy River many times, enjoying floating on our own, laughing and enjoying each others company. Eventually an inner-tube became available and I handed it to the teen in our group, which brought a smile to her face. At this point, I realized I was having more fun floating on my own, than if I was in the inner-tube! I had more freedom to move around in the water, as I was not confined to the cumbersome inner-tube!!

When another inner-tube became available, one of my friends offered it to me, but by now I was having the time of my life floating around on my own that I didn't want the inner-tube. She insisted, so I tried it for a little ways, getting the feeling of what I thought I wanted, and seeing that THAT didn't even meet my expectations. Wow! I realized that had there been enough inner-tubes, I would have never realized floating on my own was more fun than floating in the cumbersome inner-tube!! Having come to that realization, I then offered the inner-tube to others in our group.

When the day was over, I felt I learned something around expectations. When we have an idea of how we want, or think things should go for a particular event or happening, and it doesn't meet our expectations, we can lose sight of living in the present and experiencing what is in front of us, and that might even be better than what we expected.

So the next time I have set expectations, I will remember to be open to new possibilities that might even be better than I expected.

That's a pretty good life lesson all around. Not just for play, but work, relationships, and life in general. It might not be easy or comfortable at first, but being open to possibilities and living in the present can bring surprising results.