Five

Pardon me if this entry is a bit trite, the emotions are honest and I’ll try to be brief. Life is a series of coincidences, each built on those before it. Go to this dance on that night or you won’t meet the love of your life, this is a simplistic example.

But it goes much deeper: the hobbies and interests you pick up as a child, along with your school record (and family finances), determine what college you can attend, the college makes a huge difference in what work you can get afterwards. So make sure your kids pick a useful hobby, its too late for us now, eh? Still, this only a moderately complex example.

Today marks five years since first met my sweet Vivian, for which I cannot begin to explain how fortunate I am. But I met her only because (a) I was going up to San Francisco to a party at my friend Joel’s apartment and (b) I was at loose ends in late summer of 2001 and Microsoft had not yet started charging for participating in their chat rooms.

The event path that lead to those two things, including my being available to meet someone new, at just that moment in time is overwhelmingly complex. It’s like the mazes printed on kid’s paper placemats in chain restaurants, except this maze would take all the placemats in all the California Denny’s for the entire month of October. Or at least I like to think so.

No matter. What does matter is that I’ve had five terrific years with Vivian and hope to have many, many more.