Better Than Planned
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Just a little sequel to According to Plan. You don't have to read it to get this, though. Works as a stand-alone, too. But they go together. 'so ya know :)
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When I was a little girl, I planned out my entire future. All of it. I would be a chef, I would be a wife, I would be a mom, and I would be happy. And I assumed, as all little girls do, that it would go exactly as planned. Especially since that's how I like to do things: exactly as planned.
When I was 8, I planned out my entire dream wedding, complete with Rachel as maid-of-honor, and down to the details of what flavor the wedding cake would be (white velvet with buttercream frosting) and what song I would dance to with my new husband (Wonderful Tonight).
And the groom? Tall, dark, and handsome, of course. We would meet, fall in love, and live happily-ever-after in the house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and three kids (two girls and a boy, the girls older).
I always pictured meeting this man while in college, and being married soon after, I guess because that's how so many other people did it. Or, because that's what my mother put into my head. As soon as Ross got engaged (which was when I was still in school, I might add), she was already breathing down my neck about finding a man to settle down with. I was twenty-one at the time. Twenty-one!
And then, it didn't happen. There was no one wonderful and amazing in my life. No one that gave me butterflies in my stomach when we kissed, or set off fireworks in my head. No one who I wanted to live my happily-ever-after with. No one who matched the tall, dark, and handsome, made-up man in my head.. There were guys I had fun with, even a couple whom I loved, but no one who felt…right. No one who fit the tall, dark, handsome man's description I had been picturing for nearly two decades.
And then, there was Richard. I have to admit, I loved him in a way that I've never loved anyone else in my entire life, and in a way, I never even will again. I thought he was the one. He fit my mind's profile of my future husband perfectly. I thought that what we had was "it." I thought we would be together forever.
Sometimes life has other plans, though.
Then, there was London. And alcohol. And Chandler.
My Chandler.
See, Chandler doesn't fit my "type." He's not mature and suave. He doesn't appreciate great food and fine wine in the way that I do. He would probably pick Burger King over a 4-star restaurant. He's goofy, not serious. He could probably go weeks without cleaning. He's handsome, but not in the dark, mysterious way. When we moved in together, he had all of his DVD's organized by category; mine were alphabetical by title. I'd been dreaming of my future my entire life, while he's more day-to-day, and even the word "commitment" would always send him running.
In the last few years, he has grown up a little bit. Okay, a lot a bit. But, he's still Chandler. He's still the same old, goofy Chandler. He's still not who I always imagined myself with.
But you know what? Maybe, if I hadn't been holding onto what I imagined my future husband to be like, maybe, just maybe, I would have realized what was between Chandler and I sooner. Because, now that I think about it, there are a million and one times when something could have happened between us before, if one of us had just said something. Or done something.
And I know I like things how I like things. I like to be planned and organized and have everything go exactly according to plan. Nothing with Chandler has been that way, though. From the spontaneous start to our relationship, to his THREE wedding proposals, to Joey being late for our wedding that he was officiating, to the first time I saw Chandler holding the twins, who someone other than myself gave birth to…. Not one second of any of that was how I expected any of those parts of my life to go. Not one second of it. But you know what?
It was all so much better than planned.
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This is me (not) studying for my chemistry quiz that is in a few hours…I was actually going to write a Randler one-off, but then the Mondler fan inside of me took over, and this is what we got :) Review, please!