Of Old and New

Yeah yeah yeah, no need to say it; I know you're thinking it... "lazy bones". Sue me, I've been beyond busy and frankly not very inspired to do any blabbering. Besides, since last I wrote nothing exciting has happened, not that there really ever was anything exciting about my life, but this year has basically just been a looong year of routine, exhausting busy routine, but routine nonetheless.
School? Busy. Work? Beyond busy. Home? Well there's a lot of stuff going on that is also keeping us very busy, but this is not the time nor place to talk about it.

There are though, things that have happened which in retrospect have made me think about how funny life can be at times. Not so much funny as in ha ha funny, but with twists and turns that sometimes take you so much off guard that it makes you wonder about this whole ‘free will’ thing.

For instance, a good friend quit work in September. I was sad to see him go, but knew that he was so miserable at work that it could only be a positive thing for him. In a matter of 2 months the economy crumbled, his husband lost his job, they have to sell the apartment they had newly bought and renovated themselves with love and care, and have moved to my friend's childhood town. Now, for all things that could be foreseen, this was a snowball effect that, at least for me, came out of nowhere at a dizzying speed. Yet I still think that it’s the best thing that could have happened to both of them.
My friend, although loving to live in NYC, would often talk about his home state with longing, all the while trying to convince me that I should go and see real cows, as though he felt sorry for me for only knowing those beast wrapped in cellophane at the supermarket.
I learned that his husband is going to reinvent himself and take on a career he has always wanted to pursue (something about health I think), and so in the long run, will probably feel so much more fulfilled that he was at his prior job.
Now, although brought on by circumstances that would have made me loose my hair, contemplate selling at least one kidney, and become a guinea pig in all profitable experiments, the result turned out to be a very positive one, who would have guessed?

Another thing reminding me that life sometimes winks at you in unsuspected moments is human relationships. This year has seen a couple of old friends who for different reasons hadn’t spoken to me for a long time, go through horrible experiences. Regardless of the time that had passed, they called me when they were going through a terrible time and we are speaking again. It took a traumatizing moment in their lives to make us realize that whatever kept us apart was inconsequential.

You know that ad, “The Human Element”? Often in life we forget one key component of this rollercoaster voyage we all go through, and that’s the Hu element: us. We cannot predict or even sometimes understand how other fellow beings will affect us, react to our little quips, or influence how we end up doing things. The whole point I guess is to accept how things happen and make the best of them as we try, really try, to learn. Bottom line? It often takes an old thing to make you appreciate a new one.

Now, if this isn't a perfect example of a blabbering fortune-cookie philosophy, I don't know what is. Must be the holidays approaching…