in a mill-yon years i would not have predicted lifes turns. everyday the train jumps the tracks.

Thanks, Steve. It has been said that God's greatest gift to us is our inability to see the future. I agree with this. "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell is one of my generation's most beloved songs. And....my generation produced a mountain of beloved songs.

Ah hell, that's NOTHING. The first thing I thought when I felt that impact was, "I'm getting a Euro turbo bumper now." No disappointment at all. It will all work out. Now, if I can DIY it and pocket some of the money, I'll get two new front tires out of it too.

yeah pretty much, A divorce from my first wife 30 years ago and having some problems with drinking that I solved 30 years ago, (coincidence?) were a bit of a speed bump, but it pretty much turned out to my liking. I'm good with it. But I, like others, never really had a plan.

i think we can arrange that.

Well, I'm retired and still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I didn't feel I had the luxury of a grand plan, though it would have been nice. I had to always roust about for what would feed & house me at the time after leaving my parents' house at 18. Had to put myself through university and took whatever job I could to pay the bills. I ended up in education, which was an odd situation since I was one of those students teachers drew staws to see who would be the unlucky one to get me in class. However that may have ultimately contributed to the success I had in the classroom. Over time I had the chance to do lots of different, challenging, & fun things and ended up spending almost half my career outside the classroom. So no, my life ended anything like I probably would have expected but I did a lot of fun things and I'm still having fun.

The 17-year old me would think my life is fking amazing, but the 40-year old me doesn't exactly feel the same way.

It wouldn't have worked anyway. Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. God finds our plan-making very amusing.

Early 20's, 25 addresses in two years.
Twenty years later, two addresses in 25 years.
A good mate has made life pretty easy for me.
Jim

It's lasted much longer than I expected, and I never imagined I'd be so blessed.
All in all my life turned out much better than I expected, or anyone else who knew me expected it to.

I used to say this all of the time. My wife was always perplexed. Several years back, she told me that it used to baffle her when something would happen and it wouldn't bother me. I always told her "it'll work out", and it always did. She said she found that she had started to think the same way and realized that it did always work out.

Well, it doesn't always happen by itself, but with some effort, it does tend to work out. It's not really in my nature to sit back and let a crisis have its way with me. I'm not super successful or smart, but I do have some problem-solving skills and half the battle is just admitting the problem and deciding to take action. Cultural differences with my wife make this very apparent to me. She, like so many other Chinese, is very smart, but can never admit fault or recognize a problem. So she has a hard time taking that first step toward solving it.

Is this what I expected or planned?

Heck if I know. I don't really remember expecting or planning anything in my younger days.

This is called, "I don't give a rat's ass."

And I don't.

Started out good as expected and still is but have a feeling its going to end very badly!

I think it all comes down to being happy where you are in life!

You have to be happy with your station in life, if you can't find anything good in your life and think, if only I had this I'd be happy, then you're screwed. The more you strive for to, make yourself happy and content, will still not change your outlook and it certainly will seem in the total crapper if you move backwards.

So there is good in every situation, life moves on, don't let it leave you behind with regret and with - but if only I had ..........

I have been accused of apathy my whole life. I prefer to think of it as having a good perspective.

I think I adapt and "monkey roll" with whatever life has thrown at me. Good health (both mental and physical) has always been a higher priority than wealth. In that regard, I'm very rich. And i still have my good looks, so I've got that goin' for me...

Yep!

In my case it was a combination of definitive planning and recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities as they came along.

As a child and teenager, I had a long list of things I wanted to do. These have been added to, but seldom subtracted from. They ranged from books to read, subjects to study, tasks to do, activities to try, goals to reach.

My plans covered all aspects of life's diverse facets. Personal attributes to develop, experiences to gain, relationships to have, etc.

My ability to recognize opportunities and exploit the possibilities developed from the results of following my plan.

I have suffered the usual life events, friends and relatives dying, relationships that did not work out, problems with jobs, etc. I knew from the beginning that I did not have total control of all aspects of my world. I am good with that as it leads to more challenges.



But, all in all, I have only one regret. I wish I had more time.