Sometimes we may not ever sit and think about how each decision we make has led us to where we are today.
I spent the past 5 days (and will today as well) kayaking in Northern Florida with 7 others.
2 days ago I was doing some morning yoga/meditation and I thought to myself about all of the small events that led me to this point just in the last year. As of 1-Mar-2013, I had never even sat in a kayak, or even THOUGHT about getting in a kayak. I thought all kayaks were just for white water. Oh, and these 7 people, I had no idea who any of them were as well as of a year ago.
In my contemplations, I realized that I met all of these folks through meetup.com. Meetup.com was suggested by a friend that I met in January of 2010. I would have never even considered kayaking if it were not for my wonderful sister (S)Pamela. She is the one who is responsible for my hobby-turned- obsession. However, it goes even further than that. The reason I was up in New York during July and August of 2013 (when I was introduced to kayaking) was to spend time with my family.
Why was I spending time with my family for so long? Well, 1-Mar-2013 was the day that my mother had surgery to remove her allegedly infected gall bladder. She had been in the hospital for a week of running tests to find out what was wrong with her. I will never forget how troubled the surgeon looked when he came in to brief us post-op. He had the awful job of informing us that he found a large (~16 cm) tumor on her pancreas, as well as some spots/nodules on other organs in that area. My father asked him if we should assume it is cancer. We were told "Yes, until you are told otherwise." I was in shock, my life had just been hit by a 10.0 on the Richter scale.
It was an agonizing month long wait to hear from the oncologist on her formal diagnosis and also her prognosis. When that came in, we were told that with chemotherapy she would be lucky to have 5 months to live, and even less if she does not tolerate the chemo.
I am ecstatic to report that the doctors estimates did not take into account what a tough woman that my mother is. I am proud that she is MY mother. I know that there were times that I was mad at her as a youngster for some things, but I will never ever be embarrased or ashamed to admit that she is my mother. She is doing very well, her prayer circle is so persistent and she is doing everything she can to feel normal.
And to get back to the topic at hand, it just boggles my mind when I start looking back and thinking about all of the tiny seemingly insignificant events and choices over the past 3+ decades has shaped me into who I am, and led me to where I am right now. It is commonly known as the Butterfly Effect.
Just keep an open mind as you have no idea what the next year has in store for you. Each decision you make, even as simple as deciding to stop at a yellow light vs. going through it may completely change where you will be in a year.
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