John Lennon has been credited with the phrase “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans,” but as with most of my writing I was curious to know if he actually did write it or if he borrowed the line from someone else. It turns out, according to several sources, the phrase has been around for decades, and perhaps far longer…. The website QuoteInvestigator.com traces the history all the way back to the Bible, noting:

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. (Cor hominis disponit viam suam: sed Domini est dirigere gressus eius.) –Old Testament: Proverbs, xvi, 9. (c. 350 B. C.)

Be that as it may, the quote resonated with me many times this past summer as my life took a number of unexpected twists and turns. Having spent the last half of 2024 and the first three months of 2025 traveling the western states in my 24′ motorhome (see my previous posts), I was making plans to continue the journey and visit the eastern part of the Outside states, where I have a son and daughter-in-law and many good friends to spend time with. And of course I would also revisit my west coast friends and family, and many friends who I’d missed on my first trip south. It was going to be another epic adventure!

But everything changed when my two young grandsons, Kevin and Collin, ages 9 and 14, came to live with me. I won’t go into the details, but there was never any question about my stepping into the role of official guardian for them; I’ve been close to these boys their entire lives, and they are as near and dear to me as my own kids were at their ages (and of course they all still are).

Our first order of business was a place to live, as my 24′ motorhome wasn’t cutting it for three of us (and my dog). Thanks to my oldest son John and his brother Chris, that was taken care of when they completely refurbished an older mobile home on property that John owns and we moved into it last June. In an ironic twist of fate, this is a property that my parents purchased back in the 1980s, sold to my brother sometime in the ’90s, and he sold it to John a decade or so later. This place has been in our family for over 40 years now, and it’s a real gem, a diamond in the rough, and the boys and I are very happy here.

Not long after we moved in and got settled, my dog Annie presented us with a litter of puppies. Annie is a mix between a German wire-haired terrier and some type of Australian cattle dog, maybe a blue heeler, and as near as anyone could figure the dad dog was a purebred chocolate lab who spent a lot of time hanging out with her. The puppies grew fast and we found homes for all but three of them; the boys each wanted to keep one, and the third pup is promised to a friend who can’t take him just yet. I hadn’t planned on having four dogs to feed and care for, but life is what happens…. We also have three fish and Collin has a very cool Leopard gecko named Leo, and my brother Bill recently gave Kevin a beautiful little calico kitten, so we’re managing a growing menagerie here.

Over the summer we spent a lot of time traveling to some of our favorite places, such as Talkeetna, the beautiful Willow side of Hatcher Pass, the Knik River Valley, and Whittier, where beachcombing was the favorite pastime. Annie and the puppies traveled with us everywhere and it was fun to see them exploring and learning and growing with each new adventure. The two keepers, Luke and Leia, are going to be really good dogs, like their mom.

Kevin and Collin have both decided they want to be homeschooled, so we’re settling into continuing our daily rythms and rhymes without the interruptions of school. I homeschooled all five of my kids, and my mom homeschooled my two youngest siblings and introduced me to the writings of John Holt, whose belief in the innate abilities of children was legendary. John, whose books won many awards and landed him on several talk shows in the ’80s, became a good friend before his passing in 1985, and his protege, Patrick Farenga, is continuing his work, is still a good friend, and is one of the people I’d planned on visiting on my trip Outside.

“I have come to believe that a person’s schooling is as much a part of his private business as his politics or religion, and that no one should be required to answer questions about it. May I say instead that most of what I know I did not learn in school, and indeed was not even ‘taught.'” — John Holt

The boys and I have plans to do more traveling around our beautiful state now that the tourists have mostly left Alaska. We want to visit Valdez again, and Homer, and Fairbanks, all of which have been wonderful adventures in the past, but we also want to go somewhere on the Alaska Railroad, maybe to Seward where we can visit the Sealife Center again, or Denali Park, which is just as interesting in the winter as in summertime. And of course the ocean is always calling us….

Occasionally something will make me think of the trip I had planned for this part of my life, and I find myself wondering ‘what if…’ But the reality here and now overrides any regrets or second thoughts, and this unexpected opportunity to help these two boys grow into young men is an adventure I would not trade for anything.

I am reminded of a favorite quote from the inimitable Mark Twain:

—“There are no accidents, all things have a deep and calculated purpose; sometimes the methods employed by Providence seem strange and incongruous, but we have only to be patient and wait for the result: then we recognize that no others would have answered the purpose, and we are rebuked and humbled.” —The Refuge of the Derelicts, 1909

Thanks for reading,

Helen