Surprising Myself

On the drive home from work tonight, I was listening to a political talk radio show and marveled to myself, "Who would have thought I would listen to political talk radio?"

Up until about five years ago, when Matt was closely following the 2004 presidential race, I wasn't really interested in politics. Sure, I had an opinion about the big races and a few of the big issues, but I wasn't all that informed and certainly didn't spend a lot of time trying to become informed. And until I got XM with my Hyundai 18 months ago and discovered the POTUS station ("Politics of the United States for the People of the United States"), I could barely tolerate ten minutes of talk radio, insisting on switching to a music station instead.

So, as the call-in program came to a close this evening, I started thinking about other ways in which I've surprised myself over the last ten years--ways in which I've changed unexpectedly. For instance:

Ten years ago, I never thought I would be a Democrat.
Seven years ago, I never thought I would like country music. (Still don't love it...)
Five years ago, I never thought I would find a job that used my religion degrees.
Three years ago, I never thought I would love a job enough to keep working once I had kids.
One year ago, I never thought I would feel good about putting my child in day care.

Then again, some things don't change: I am still staunchly pro-life (though I've expanded that beyond to abortion issue to include opposition to war and the death penalty), I am still a big dork who loves historical drama television miniseries (now with a sweet husband who indulges my co-opting of the Netflix queue for things like "Scarlett," "Queen," and "Catherine the Great"), and most importantly, I love being a mother as much as I always knew I would...

... and maybe even more.

Now that's a good surprise.