You can plan life all you want… but life gone show you who really in charge. This one right here? It’s about them ‘Life Plans VS Life Reality’ moments. When you thought it was gone be smooth… and then boom! Reality hit you in the mouth. I had plans for my kids, but life had other ideas. Press play on this one. It’s gon’ bless you AND make you laugh. 

You know, when you young, you got all these plans for how life supposed to go. I know I did. And then life… well, life showed up. And lemme tell you, life got a real nasty left hook. Ain’t nobody immune.

I had these big ol’ plans for my kids. I said to myself, “Steve, your babies ain’t gon’ have to grow up how you did.” I ain’t want my kids sharing no rooms, using no crusty bathrooms down the hall. Naw. I gave ’em everything I ain’t have. Private schools, uniforms, their own bathrooms IN the room. That type of life.

But see, here’s where the plot twist come in.

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I messed around and realized after the ninth grade, I shoulda put them in Martin Luther King Junior High. Let ’em feel some of the stuff I felt. Let ’em get in some fights at school. Let ’em scrap a little bit. I wanted ’em to have better, but what I ain’t realize at first was… when you create that better life, you end up enabling ’em too.

“Every parent wants their children to have a better life than the one they had. So you try to create a lifestyle that was better. I did the same thing. But the problem is, you enable ’em.”

Man, listen… life don’t care about your plans. Life got its own syllabus, and you ain’t get the study guide. I tried to protect ’em from all the pitfalls I went through, but guess what? Some of them pitfalls? That’s the exact stuff that made me who I am.

My kids never had to hustle like I did. Never been in them situations where you had to make some real decisions. They ain’t never fought over no drumstick at the dinner table. Naw. They got a pantry lookin’ like Whole Foods.

But see, that’s what life is about. You try to give ’em more… but you gotta make sure they still get the lessons.

“Like my kids, none of my kids grew up like me. They’ve always had their own room, their own bathroom… But see, they missed some of them lessons I got from the hard times.”

At the end of the day, what I learned? You can give ’em the better life, but you still gotta teach ’em the grind, the fight, the hustle. Life gone throw them curveballs anyway. It’s our job as parents to prepare ’em for the hit, not just shield ’em from the pitch.

So if you sittin’ somewhere stressed ’cause life ain’t goin’ the way you planned? Welcome to the club. Pull up a chair. You ain’t by yourself. Adjust the plan. Let life teach you. And then? Teach the lesson to the next one behind you.

That’s how we do it. That’s real life. That’s real love.