Do you ever feel like someone is watching over you? Or that there really is a sort of pre-destiny? I know we all wonder about the what-ifs-all the time.

There are countless movies about it (“Sliding Doors” comes to mind) because it is fascinating! Don’t we all wonder what our lives would be like if we had made different choices?

I thought it would be fun to find out what happened to the guys I dated over the years, just for kicks. One of them turned out to be schizophrenic and ended up in a funny farm. I swear it wasn’t my fault. Another quit his job to become a true “artist” and spent all of his time preparing for Burning Man. The best one, though, is the one who is currently serving time in federal prison for fraud. Can you imagine how it would be to run into him on the street one day? “Hey! What have you been up to?”  “Oh, I got caught for insider trading, served five years in prison, lost millions of dollars and am working at Burger King.” “Wow! Crazy! I had a brain tumor and a premature baby, lost my teaching job because of it, had another baby, and I am also working at Burger King!”  Well, I’m not really working at Burger King but I may have to apply soon. It got me thinking that my whole life so far has been a series of dodged bullets; definitely with the guys I chose and luckily didn’t end up with, but also a slew of other mishaps.

Of course there’s the brain tumor ordeal. That was a close call, to say the least. I also missed the 9/11 attacks by a few days. I went to Bali when it happened and not long after I left, it was blown up by terrorists, and at the exact same spot I was when I heard about 9/11. Weird. I almost got hit head on while driving my car in LA, swerved to avoid the oncoming car, and ran into a Chinese Restaurant and missed hitting the owner by about a foot. Then there was the time I was crossing the street in London, got hit by a cab, flew 20 feet in the air, did some crazy gymnastics move in the air, landed on my butt and was basically fine, other than going into shock and suffering a concussion.  My guardian angel is seriously busy.

So what does any of this have to do with parenting or being a mom? Nothing I guess, except that if all of these things hadn’t happened and turned out the way they did, I wouldn’t have the life that I have now, and I wouldn’t have my two little nuggets that have become my whole world. I can’t picture it any other way and I wouldn’t change a thing!  Plus, it’s refreshing to just sit and lose yourself in thought remembering your life before kids. Take a few minutes and do it. Think of the what-ifs. Maybe things really do happen for a reason. Not that I am mocking a life of visiting my husband in prison, or raising my kids in the desert worshipping a man on fire. But…I am really happy that I’m not.