It is what it is

Life is a string of events needing decisions and resulting in consequences. Most decisions are easy, Coke or Pepsi, tea or coffee. Most consequences are non issues. We go through our mostly mundane day mindlessly making decisions and accepting the results without even thinking about them.

Some times the results aren't so mundane. Sometimes they result in accidents, lost or damaged articles that we value. Sometimes injury and even death.

When this happens we look back over the last few hours at all the decisions and think "if only"? If only I had left the house 10 minutes earlier like I had planned, I wouldn't have been at the intersection at the exact moment the other driver ran the stop sign. If only I had taken the few extra second to put my camera in my purse instead of trying to hold it and several other things in my hand I wouldn't have dropped it off the second floor balcony of the hotel. If only I had not put mu cell phone in my shirt pocket I wouldn't be trying to fish it out of this toilet. If only I had left my wallet in the truck while I was in the canoe checking trot lines it wouldn't be at the bottom of the Flint River. (That one was for my son, Drew. A great teaching moment.)

We can look back over the last few hours or maybe days, trace the events backwards and see at several points where a decision we made created a sequence that lead to the tragedy.and assign ourselves blame.

It kind of funny how, when something good happens we don't track the events of the last few hours to see the decisions that brought about the good events. Wow, If I hadn't taken those few extra minutes to go back and change shoes I would not have been in the right place at the right time to run into that old friend I hadn't seen in years and she wouldn't have told me the wonderful news of her daughter's pregnancy.

Its impossible when we make one of these day to day insignificant decision to foresee the path this sets us on and where it will lead. Life is what it is. Live your life, accept what the day brings and remember that you cannot control the outcome.

One last thought, and maybe this will help. If we could go back and change one simple thing in our day that would set the days events on a different path whose to say that path would not have created and even more tragic results.