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My friendpointed out that we do have St Patrick's Day in the middle of the month tobreak up the long wait for winter's end.
Talkingabout St. Patrick's Day reminded me of how every story I hear about peoplemeeting one another involves so much luck. When I think of the stupid things that happen to me, Iwonder if I'm just destined to be luckless and alone. People in my life are in relationships that are based onchance meetings:
My dad grewup in the Philippines where he and his siblings slept on a hut floor likesardines and could hear the giant flying roaches slamming into the thatchedroof in the dark of night. My momgrew up in Baltimore, the daughter of a stay-at-home mother who never went tocollege, and a father who was a stonemason. She worked hard and always stayed at the top of herclass. She attended MarylandMedical School when 90% of the medical classes were comprised of men. Meanwhile, my dad was working hard tooand came to the USA to attend-you guessed it-Maryland Medical School. The chances of both of these peoplemaking it medical school, and meeting from other sides of the earth werecertainly low. Man, I guess I'mlucky to be sitting here today too in that case!
My FriendFrom College and His Girlfriend
Right after college, Ibattled testicular cancer. In aneffort, after treatment, to return to work to a job that was familiar andmentally rewarding, I worked at my high school as an admissions counselor. Eventually, I moved to NYC to live withmy buddy from college, but I kept in touch with some of the students I hadworked with at the school. Oneday, years later, I got a call from one of the students from Friends who wasmoving to New York. I beganhanging out with him and his girlfriend. At his girlfriend's birthday a few months later, my college buddy mether friend and they are still together. Would they be together today if I never worked at Friends after gettingsick?
My FriendMargaret from Work and My High School Buddy
Mysophomore year of high school I thought I was finished making friends. However, my schedule left me with anopen period around 10 in the morning with this one kid. With nothing else during that openperiod but each other, that kid and I eventually became buddies over trips toDunkin Donuts and sports. Fast forward to 2005, my friend had moved back fromLA after getting a job in NYC. Inthe meantime I had become friends with this new girl in myoffice-Margaret. We hung outtogether out of the office and reveled in one another's romantic failures. One night, when I was out with a bunchof people, Margaret and my buddy ended up connecting. They are still dating. Would they be together if my high school schedule didn't put my buddyand I together in the morning for Dunkin Donut trips? What if Margaret had stayed in Richmond after she graduated,like she originally planned, or if my friend had stayed in LA? It all lined up just right...
Are thesestories based on luck, or destiny? Merriam-Webster tells me the following:
Destiny: apredetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency
Luck: theevents or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
Both dependon a course of events. Some ofthese can be negative, like when I got cancer. But that was an integral event in my buddy meeting hisgirlfriend.
Perhapsdestiny depends on a lot of lucky events adding up to fulfill thatdestiny. So, this makes thingstougher for me than I thought: notonly do I need to have good game, but I also need a bunch of lucky events tolead me to the one.
Do you haveany stories about people who got together through an amazing list ofcircumstances or events that related to one another? How do you think destiny and luck fit together in dating andlove? Do you believe that our soulmates could be pre-determined?
Posted by Rich
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