Circumstances!

Having Ray’s book released to the world has triggered many thoughts, not the least of which is how one’s life’s journey can change directions, in ways that could never have been predicted, simply as a result of specific circumstances.

If I had not failed my pre-career medical, I would have never met the girl that I married.

If I had never married that girl, I would have never come to Canada because it was her aunt that sold us on the idea and eventually sponsored us.

Many years later, if I had never been put on a special project by my employer, I would have never met Carol.

If I had never met Carol, it would have been virtually guaranteed that I would have never contemplated letting a dog into my life.

If I had never let Ray into my life, I would have never written the book about him!

If somebody told me 5 years ago that, in 5 years, I would be living with an almost 80 pounds dog who had been abandoned and carried significant emotional baggage as a result, I would have grinned and responded “Yeh……….. right!”

If that same person told me that I would do pretty much anything for that dog, I would start to wonder what they had been drinking.

If they then told me that I would write, and publish, a book covering the trials and tribulations of his first 18 months with us, I would be convinced that they were totally delusional.

Circumstances! Aren’t they wonderful? They can just happen, and our life takes on a completely new direction.

Circumstances! Provide us with incentives to step out of our comfort zones.

Circumstances! Offer us challenges from which we can expand our horizons and generally grow.

Perhaps we should all reflect on the circumstances that brought us to our current “place” and celebrate because, regardless of the positives and negatives of the various life-changing circumstances, they did happen and they did make us who we are today. As for tomorrow? There will hopefully be more circumstances.

Food for thought.

33 thoughts on “Circumstances!”

  3. I think that your life has certainty been better for all that you have written about in this post. I agree with your assessment of un-expected circumstances.

    Carol and Ray have definitely been a bonus for you and I’m pretty sure that Carol and Ray feel the same way. If only he could talk. Would you ever get an ear full.

    This quote by me is something that I have witnessed and experienced over a life time.

    ā€œIf something unexpected is better than expected that is a bonus.
    If something expected becomes unexpected that is a problem.ā€ šŸ™‚
    -Yvonne Daniel

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  4. This is an awesome post, Colin! Even more awesome because I sooo often look back and see how things led to the point I am today. I love doing it. It makes me understand the greater context of things and makes me see that whatever happened did not happen just so but offered something wonderful as a result which again led to something wonderful. Our life is a string of one happening that leads to another the path of our life.

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  7. Great post. I knew my husband for many years before we ever got together. However I had moved out of state. When I moved back in, an acquaintance that neither one of us really like, got us together and the rest was history. This friend hasn’t been in our life since and it was just an idle comment she make to my husband that I had moved back into town that made him look me up. If that hadn’t happened who knows where either of us would have ended up. If someone would have told him 20 years ago that he’d be living (happily) with 4 cats he would have been astounded!

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    • You can tell your Mom that I totally understand. We can either feel sorry for ourselves when things don’t workout the way we expected them to, or we can move on to embrace the change and make the most of our new circumstances. šŸ™‚

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    • I also tend not to accept the concept of accidents or coincidences. Part of that is simply my own way of maximizing on the events. If I believe that a circumstance was orchestrated by a higher power, then it inspires me to adapt to the changes and move forward. If I believed it was a random set of events with no constructive basis, then it would be tempting to do nothing but live another day. I will only live in this world once, and so the question becomes “Do I want to pass through as an unknown commodity, or do I want to leave a mark in some small way?” Assuming the latter is desired, then it is important to take advantage of every opportunity/circumstance; to adapt and move forward, and to display the love, compassion and understanding that all the major religions promote. šŸ™‚

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