Only Slightly Deeper Than a Puddle

Wednesday nights are mind-numbingly boring down at ol' Death & Beyond, so I have a lot of time to ponder life's mysteries while doing super-intricate stuff like making sure the citronella candles are lined up perfectly straight (LOVE the smell of citronella, BTW. So we can blame this post on the fumes.)

I'm aware that this is nothing new, and everybody and their dog has thought about this, but tonight I was thinking about the people who come into our lives, the ones with whom we choose to have friendships/relationships (however loosely defined,) and how they change who we are. My question is, are these people in our lives for a specific reason, maybe to teach us something, or to bring something that's been missing to us? Are we *supposed* to find these people, or is it just part of life's weird randomness that comes from the choices we made before? Would we have eventually found them anyway?

For instance, if I had married my boyfriend in Michigan according to The Plan (and there was *always* A Plan. And you must never deviate from The Plan or chaos and disorder will ensue. But I digress...) Anyway, if I had married him, I never would have moved to Indy. I wouldn't have met and married my ex. I might not have started running when things started to go downhill. I then wouldn't have gotten involved with the online running groups that have been such a great source of support, both in running and life in general. I wouldn't have moved to Florida. I wouldn't have become friends with Linae. And then I wouldn't have ever even THOUGHT about doing triathlons. (And God only knows where THAT is going to lead....) And there you have it; I'm not me. You play a few hands a bit differently and you've got a completely different life.

Then again, I may just be really really tired and overthinking things and assigning more importance to these things than is warranted ;) I have no answers, only more questions.

Oh well. If you're reading this, chances are you're in my life in some way, whether it's online only or in "real" life. Either way, I'm glad you're here, no matter how you got tangled up with me. Blame it on a weird hop of your dice ;)