There's no chance occurance that you are here reading this now. Do read on! Nothing to lose but a few minutes of your time, and perhaps lots to gain.
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First I apologize for jumping straight into my 40-some year summary of 2012. I had every intention of providing a bit of a biographical entry to at least give some background what makes me, well, me. All things in their time. I'll get back to that. But as 2012 comes to a close and as I prepare to observe another birthday, this seemed more topical.
2011 for me was a pretty average year. My career was going relatively well. The on-going post divorce bullshit with the ex-wife exclusively focused child custody and responsible parenting had of course flared up (more on that in a different post!) and taken its annual toll on my financial position. My current married life with my 50% part-time children was a bit tumultuous -- different topic for a different day. And our friendship circle continued to grow through new acquaintances made through our engagement with our local animal rights group. The year included increases in my time motorcycling on my BMW which included my solo trek to check out the annual Top of the Rockies BMW Motorcycle gathering. Plus, 2011 also included my first overnight motorcycle trip with my friend and his brother (another interesting experience worthy of a separate posting too!).
2012 started largely uneventfully. A nice Christmas and the winter weather allowed many opportunities to ride my bike to work which saved money on gas and, well, was much more enjoyable than driving in the car. In the latter parts of January, a friend on Facebook who graduated with me from high school in 1986 began posting up some invitations for us 40-ish classmates to give something called P90X a go.
While I have always been in what I would consider 'better than average' shape, I wasn't quite the epitome of fitness I desired. My motivation for trying this extreme exercise program drew from a combination of both my approaching mid-40s age range and repeated retorts over the past years from my omnivorous acquaintances about a vegetarian diet is unsuitable for optimal health and fitness. I may have wanted to look better for me going into my mid-40s, but I really wanted become a walking example of every day average vegetarian/vegan health and fitness. It is one thing to tell others how a plant-based diet is better for them but it is far far better show them as a living example.
Little did I anticipate what was yet to come. In April of 2012, after having been about 1/3 of the way through my 90 day exercise cycle, I donned my riding gear for my morning commute to work. Two days later I opened my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. I asked a lady who appeared to be nurse whether I was dreaming or if I really was in the hospital? She assurred me that I was not dreaming and that a doctor would be in to see me shortly. "What the hell?" I remember thinking to myself.
It would turn out that on that mornings ride into work, not 3 miles from home, a herd of deer began to cross the road in front of the car that was ahead of me as we approached a curvy dip in the road. To this day I still don't really know what happened other than I went down sliding along the pavement for a pretty good distance, broke 3 ribs and punctured a lung. Damn. And to top that off, my wife drove past en route to/from school to drop our daughter off at school and recognized it was ME on the side of the road! Talk about your worst case scenario!!!
So, what does this so far have to do with karma and no chance occurrences? That's the reason of this series of entries. The first quarter of 2012 concluded under the cloud of my motorcycle wreck and injuries. Aside from not having a working motorcycle, ribs that hurt like hell for 2 months, and getting engaged with the first of several bills from medical establishments I had no idea what the rest of 2012 would have in store for me.
Even now, looking back, it's not possible to say whether or not the year would have unfolded as it did had the motorcycle vs. deer event not occurred. I accept that all things that happen in my life are part of my path, so I have to accept that some connection exists between all my 2012 events - even if now those connections aren't all obvious to me now.
The rest of the year certainly makes for deep introspection and I think a year worth sharing.
(to be continued)
