Guess I should explain...

I have always been the kind of person if you tell me something, I believe you. I grew up believing that life was fair...that if you were nice, people would treat you that way. If you worked hard, you would be rewarded for that hard work. I always think most people are nice, and I always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Always. I'm not sure why, but that is not the point of this post.

I was told in a heated moment during my disastrous second marriage (more about that later) that I lived in a bubble. Looking back, I was told that a lot. And although I came to find out that what most people believe is what they believe YOU believe (yet another story) what he said was true. I went through life feeling if I did the right things, the right things would happen. If I filled in the boxes of the person that I was supposed to be:

1. Good daughter. Check.
2. Hard working and industrious student, trying to make As, but not always succeeding. Kind of check.
3. Participating in 2, 304 clubs so that I would be a community member and look like the student I should be. (See Number 2 for more information). Check Check.
4. Going straight to College..do not pass go...work again to make sure grades are in the Dean's list range..being well liked with professors. Check.
5. Having a boyfriend. Check.
6. Marrying said boyfriend, and following him through his career, doing the right club things, having the right number of children. Loving said husband and children, and making a life just like I thought I should do. Check.
7. Becoming a teacher..teaching children and realizing that I was EXACTLY where I should be, and doing EXACTLY what I should be doing. Bonus.
8. Having a nice home, nice cars, nice furniture, saving for vacations, working in the yard..being with my husband and my children. Double check.

Now please do not think that ANY of these above things were a bad thing. I wouldn't change a thing about what happened up to number 8 in my life..and I feel very fortunate to have/had all the 8 things that I listed. The problem with all this was that it fell into my theory that if you did the right things, life was fair. THAT was the part of it all I was wrong about...which leads to the title of this blog: My Life Outside the Bubble. 

Another thing I should explain: I am a slow learner about some things. I like to think that I have a good brain, and I use it pretty efficiently. And I think I do for the most part. But I see life literally..and although that is a good thing for the most part, it is a BAD thing when you do not realize that not every person is not what they claim to be.  Here is where the bubble causes problems. Another thing that is crucial to this blog: Life teaches you lessons. And life (and the bursting of the bubble) decided to start doing this in 2006....which is a whole other story in itself.