Hello, hello everyone. This is Tanya Dalton, owner of Inquell Press, and I'm here to give you another episode of The Weekender, a mini episode to help you end your week on the right note.

How far apart are your kids? Someone asked me not that long ago. And I answered,

oh, about three and a half years. I really wanted two, but I'm happy with how it all turned out.

What? I'm shocked, she said. That doesn't sound like you. You're a planner. Didn't you plan it?

And this made me laugh because yes, of course I had planned it. I had dreamed

it and schemed it. I had planned out exactly how far apart my kids would be in my head. But you know,

that's not always how things work. I thought that if I planned it all out, it would have to happen.

But it didn't. If you've listened to me for a while,

you know I struggled having Kate. I went through loss and I dragged Jack through more doctor's

appointments than I hope he'll ever have to go to in a lifetime. I try to be really open with this

part of my life story because I know how desperately

alone I felt at the time.

And as I mentioned this week in the podcast, it's about sharing my scars, not my wounds.

Plans get derailed.

Even the best laid ones don't always work out.

So you have a choice when this happens.

You can stress about the plan,

or you can just keep moving forward one foot in front of the other, even when you don't want to.

That period in my life was hard, and I wouldn't want to relive it, but I also wouldn't trade it

for anything. I think it's made me exactly who I am today.

And God knows how happy I am that through that fight, I ended up with Kate. But even if I hadn't,

getting derailed is sometimes part of your path. It's the part you don't plan for. It's the part

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