Change often comes uninvited

Repiping our houseYou will notice that my website has a new look. I’d like to tell you that it was the result of market research to create the best format for my upcoming Amiga release, and it was rolled out after months of careful planning. Actually, I changed the format in about an hour because an updated WordPress theme broke my old one.

I did a routine WordPress update, which brought along an update of my theme. This new theme removed key elements from my old format. Since I had to make fixes anyway, I thought this was a great time to switch to a new theme.

I’ve wanted to change my website’s look for a while, but it was just easier to leave things the way they were. I hadn’t changed my format in years. I didn’t make the change until I had to make it.

This website update happened at the same time our house was being repiped. In our part of Southern California, houses are built on concrete slabs with the water pipes running underneath. After a few decades, those copper pipes leak. You can’t fix those leaks because that means cutting through the foundation to get at the pipes. Instead, you have new pipes installed through the house. That’s how we wound up with holes in our walls and ceiling and red and blue PEX piping running through like a circulatory system diagram in your middle school biology book.

We are fortunate that we caught the problem before we needed a boat to get to the kitchen. It’s also nice to get new water pipes in our house that will last a long time and are (supposedly) better for the environment than copper. (After watching Notre Dame catch fire, I lost my enthusiasm for people welding around a wood frame.) Again, it was a change I wouldn’t have made until it was necessary.

Change often comes uninvited. A trauma, illness, relationship problem, or career crisis can force us to make necessary and long overdue changes. Good changes come unexpected as well. I didn’t expect to meet my future wife when I went into a bookstore one night or to be graced with a grandchild when we did. The key is to be open to new situations and adapt to them.

We should look at change as a gift and an opportunity. When we do, we can make wise and positive choices to put our lives in a better direction.

What are your changes prompting you to do? Please share your stories in comments.