I Never Realized How Lucky I Am

You see, my grandparents were not at all affectionate. I lived with them for nearly eight years and never saw a hug, much less a kiss. No snuggling in front of the radio or tv; separate bedrooms, that sort of thing. I recently discovered that Mom was born nine months after New Year’s Eve eleven years into their marriage.

They only had one child. At least, only one brought to term; the family did not talk about such things, so there’s no way for me to find out much about her.

But that one child was the link between me typing this and not-me ever existing. If Grandma had one less child, my radio program for the visually impaired and homebound would not exist, nor would my day job of the past 30+ years. My brother would never have become the fine photographer he is now, nor the Lower-48 traveler.

Grandma’s child produced a person who kept the family together during a rough period of time, many miles of bad road. Through that single zygote inherited from her parents, she kept the line going and here I am today. What a tenuous line that is! One little genetic mistake, one little DNA mis-match and it’s all over.

But it’s not only how we got here that’s luck. How did you get your job? How did you stumble into your good friends? What led you to be where you are now? What would have happened if you had not met this or that person, accepted this or that job, took up one or another hobby?