Life Changing

I have recently reconnected to an ex girl friend. In fact, she was not just any ex, but my first love. She had seen what I had done in the past 30 years and commented to that, and said that outside of one event, she had not had any "life altering events" a boring life. And that struck me as odd on many levels. Although we had lost touch for almost 30 years, I knew a little about her, and she had more life altering events then she was aware of. Which brings me to this, do we stop long enough in our busy lives to smell the roses?

Her and I had some life altering moment that I do not think she is aware of. When I look back, I can think of several moments in our brief time together, that had things went one way instead of the way they did, it would have altered our lives. We make choices everyday that alter out lives, we just have to take the time to notice. For these life altering events do not have to be major, but rather very uneventful.

But in order to see an altering event, often it takes time for use to realize it, and then to take the time to think about it. When I was in high school, I was going to enlist in the Marine Corp. My parents and my high school coaches talked me out of it, and encouraged me to go to college instead. At the end of my first year of college, I enlisted in the Army. In 1984, the Marine Corp barracks were bombed in Lebanon. Had I chose the Corp instead of college, I could have been in those barracks. The night I chose to go out to a bar with the guys from work, instead of going to my girlfriends (a different one) had a major altering event, that was the night I met my wife. Which in turn led to the most major events, the birth of my two sons.

But it is the little stuff. Like this morning, I was out of Copenhagen. Instead of going right out to my favorite C store, I elected to wait, and go on my way to church. When I got there, there was police tape up and the crime scene unit was there. The store had been robed. If I had left when I wanted to, I might have walked into a robbery. How about the day I left for school late, was in a rush on the scooter, and hit the back of a car. Had I left on time, I would not have had that accident. And the list goes on and on.

So, there are many events in our lives that alter the way that we live our lives. Some are major, and many are not. We just need to take the time to think about them. When I'm out for a run, or riding my bicycle, or the motorcycle, I take that time to think about my life. We all have these outlets, whether it is in church, on a golf course, hiking, fishing or out for a run. use that time to reflect on our lives.