Life, I am learning, is lived far more spontaneously than we like to admit. We may put appointments on the calendar, make lists for our lists, and carry around a perfectly respectable idea of what comes next… but life has never seemed especially impressed by our organizational skills, or so I feel at times.

You know the old saying: “We make plans, and God laughs.” Some days I smile at that line. Other days I suspect I am the punch line. Lately, I have been living it.

Still, I have a list. I have a plan… or at least the idea of a plan, which is sometimes close enough before coffee. I step into each day with a direction in mind. It does not always go according to plan, but it goes. I switch gears, change lanes, take the unexpected exit, and keep journeying on.

When I try to name the most spontaneous thing I have ever done, I cannot choose just one. I have traveled alone simply to come home to myself. I once left my husband with two small children and drove 1,300 miles to get away, with no real notion of what I would do when I arrived. I have started a business. I have taken jobs I had never done before, simply to learn something new and be among people.

I have had surgeries to remake this old body into a healthier, better home for me. And after all the hurt I had been through, I took another chance on love. That roll of the dice led me to happiness and to the truest love I have known.

None of those choices came with an endgame strategy, a laminated roadmap, or a guarantee. They came with hope, faith, and a dare whispered to myself, dream bigger… become better… go.

That may be the truth of it. For most of us, life is not one grand spontaneous gesture. It is lived through a thousand tiny acts of courage we barely recognize as spontaneous. A choice appears. We pause, we wonder, and then we go, choose, and do. Only later do we look back and realize we were building a life while we thought we were merely getting through a Tuesday.

I am looking for a new plan now. I am unsure, dreaming, wondering… What will I find? What will I do? I do not have those answers yet. Naturally, I do have a list.

So stay tuned for the continuing saga of what comes next in the life and times of an ole’ Southern woman… part planner, part wanderer, and still willing to take the next turn when the road invites her even when she cant see through the fog…