Life plays out in the funniest of ways.

It seems just when we think we have it all dialed in and are coasting right along, boom! bash! crash! along comes a life event to turn it all sideways.

If we’re lucky the derailment will just be temporary. In time and with patience we’ll be back on track with the life we planned so precisely and perfectly.

I presume that’s how it works. Personally, I seem to live a life of derailment and somehow in spite of that, it’s taken me until recently to realize just how much of my roller coaster this has been.

Really thinking on it, I can go back as far as my teen years when I was first diagnosed with epilepsy. Rather than bore everyone with a timeline from then until now, I’ll simply jump back 14 years to 2011.

That’s the year my marriage of 20-plus years ended and with children aged four and seven, we “started over.” It’s also when I returned to my healthy self after a seven-year hiatus. Mommies, the most guilty group of humans for putting themselves second to their family, and I was 100 percent guilty.

With healthy eating habits, a new activity plan and a lot of hard work, I shed the 100 pounds my two sweet cherubs had helped me find.

As the years went on my activity became more than just a weight loss thing and suddenly I found myself with new hobbies of running and heated yoga.

This change not only found me physically heathy, but mentally as well. With two growing and active children at my side we enjoyed an active lifestyle, travels and loads of memories.

Adjusting to the single mom life took some time. Complete with schedule juggling, meal prepping and yes, a new financial budget.

I’m a goal setter and fortunately have never been one to set limits. So with goals set and future plans made, the mountain which seemed to be ahead of me was eventually concurred.

Eight years in, life was really looking pretty good for the kids and I.

Taking my new found hobbies next level, I had completed multiple marathons (26.2-mile races) and attended a yoga teacher training in Sedona.

Things which I once never envisioned, let alone planned, were now just simply part of who I was.

The funny thing is, when this all started I hadn’t set a goal of re-invention, however as the quest for good health became the goal that somehow happened.

Fast forward to 2020 and about two years of coasting in cruise control with my new healthy self.

Along came cancer.

Again, I won’t bore readers with rehashing the past five, yes five years, however it is once again one of those moments of just when you think you have it all dialed in; here comes life.

Now five years and one month into my fourth battle, I’ve come to realize that life I had constructed and loved so much is now a ship which has sailed.

The long blonde hair, I once pulled into a mom bun now replaced with a menagerie of wigs and ball caps.

Last summer we learned that not only had the disease progressed to Stage 4, but we were now dealing with a chronic diagnosis. One that requires regularly scheduled chemotherapy treatment – ongoing.

In 2020 we knew the cancer was “aggressive,” we just had no idea how aggressive that was.

But there’s no tissue used or tears shed as I type this. Of course there are many things I miss from the season I shared above. I miss it a lot.

The reality is still the reality and I’m here to tell one and all the age-old quote, “God laughs while you’re busy making plans,” is absolutely true.

So … landing the plane and bringing you all to the epiphany that hit me early last week. Life, a well lived one, one full of risk and adventure will always result in a pivot at some point or another.

Rarely are we ready for it. It always seems to hit at the least opportune time, yet somehow we manage.

Are we happy about it? Also more commonly a no than a yes. But what choice do we have.

Once the shock, disappointment or tears have dried we dust off and get to work. In time and with patience, we will once again be atop that mountain we stared up at in disbelief.

Life after all is full of peaks and valleys and more times than not the lessons are found in the valleys, only for us to later rejoice atop the peak.

Here’s to the pivot.

Teresa Hammond is a staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Riverbank News and The Escalon Times. She may be reached at thammond@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.