Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Fate

Today is my day off so I spent it catching up on my blog reading. I always enjoy reading Purple Moon Garden, and today Mama Kelly was talking about her reaction to the season finale of The Medium (Short summary for those of you who either don't watch or missed the show. Allison had a dream that she was living an entirely different life with a different husband. She had no children and a different career.) Mama Kelly pointed out how we have to look at the things that have happened in our life and accept them as they are. Have you ever thought about how different your life would be if you changed one thing from the past? I have because changing one thing would change everything else we have ever done. I look at it much like the Butterfly Effect ("The butterfly effect is the idea that in a chaotic system, a
very small change to the system applied at a certain point in time makes the future change in a very dramatic way. Something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings now might affect the weather system on a global scale six
months in the future.") In other words If we do one thing now it will change the out come later on. I sat and thought about this awhile and the choices I have made in my life.
Then I questioned myself...What would I have done different?
Lots came the answer back to me...Lots...

Feel free to comment on what you would change if you had it to do over again.

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13 Comments:

Blogger Mama Kelly said...

I usually feel the same way about my life -- that if I could go back in time that there is so much I would change ...

but if changing those things could mean that the people I love might not be with me, or in the case of my children, might not exist at all its hardly worth it

I also loved the grandmother scenes but the one that really got to me was when she was standing in the rain telling the Joe in the other reality that her instinct said that she belonged with him and how he came out and kissed her -- oh goodness me I was a soggy mess LOL

May 23, 2006 at 4:57 PM  
Blogger Granny said...

I can't obiously because of the Butterfly Effect. Otherwise, there are many other things I'd do over.

I dont know if you're a Star Trek fan but my favorite episode is Harlan Ellison's "City of the Edge of Forever" with a very young Joan Collins.

Same premise - tragic ending. I still can't watch it without tears.

May 23, 2006 at 5:33 PM  
Blogger heather said...

I've thought about this before. I had an opportunity to travel during college but I was in a hurry to get into graduate school and didn't want to take time off. Now I think that it would have been a great experience. But, if I didn't get into school early then I wouldn't have graduated when I did. I wouldn't have met my husband because I would have still been in school at the time we found each other. My life would be totally different than today. And it all could have changed if I was a bit more laid back about my schooling.

May 23, 2006 at 6:35 PM  
Blogger Food Meister said...

Yikes, this one's a doozy. The one thing I'd change is that night my mom asked me to go shopping with her. We got into a car accident. Nine years later, I still can't run because of neck problems. Oh, do I miss running! But, hey, if it wasn't for the neck pain I would've stayed at my factory job and not have gone back to college.

May 23, 2006 at 8:35 PM  
Blogger Nancy said...

I would've made Bruce come to Minnesota instead of me coming out here.

May 24, 2006 at 8:44 AM  
Blogger peppylady (Dora) said...

I would say the majorty of us wish at time we took a different path. Then on the other hand would we actual taken the other path and would it been right.
My hubby and I partyed a lot when we were young. Drank and did drugs, Experence life.
My husband cousin never did any of that and went down a different path. He worked, saved his money, and had a better retirement account then us. To make long story short...He died before he was 50 and never had a chance to enjoy any of it.
No path is perfert.

May 24, 2006 at 9:29 AM  
Blogger Leslie Shelor said...

There are a few things I would change, involving a person that I lost who I wasn't able to spend enough time with. But I don't know how that would have affected where I am now, which is where I should be, so maybe not!

May 24, 2006 at 2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't hink I would change it. In spite of the fact I have made mistakes but that is all a part of the learning process of a soul. I think everything no matter how mucked up it seems actually is in line with what the plan here is to learn. I like most have done the what if's. I know one thing is for sure I am sure glad I am not with my ex-husband. :o)~

Love your blog! FYI, BBC has a good show called Sea of Souls that I love and there is one coming this June called "Hex" that looks to be very promising.

May 24, 2006 at 7:51 PM  
Blogger Meow (aka Connie) said...

I honestly don't think I would change a thing in my life. I have made a few mistakes, but they have helped mould me into who I am today. Nope, I would change anything.
I hope you are having a great week.
Take care, Meow

May 24, 2006 at 9:03 PM  
Blogger Anne Johnson said...

I wrote a screenplay called "Embassy Row" in which a midlife woman finds a genie bottle and, without knowing the magic is in her court, wishes she could go back in time and give her younger self a good talking-to. It happens that on the day in question, the younger self was invited to a reception for Richard Leakey the fossil-hunter, and younger self didn't want to go because she didn't have enough money to buy a dress, and she would miss work at the summer job she was using to store up money for college tuition.

At any rate, older self and younger self meet and bicker, but younger self winds up at the gala. And yes, whole lives change.

I'm kind of surprised at how many folks in Hollywood have read "Embassy Row." It even got to Kate Hudson, who with her mom was who I had in mind when I wrote it. But Hollywood is the worst gig to crack, so I've never put one bit of hope into that project.

Of course I had my own life in mind when I wrote it, because I was invited to go to Africa and work with the Leakey family in Tanzania. And of course I was a little hillbilly girl just struggling to pay tuition and not burden my dad and my sick mama. So I had to pass on that.

No regrets. My daughter might never have been born, and she is the diamond in my life. I also know I wouldn't have wound up living and working in Detroit for 4 years, and that was a real learning experience.

I wonder what I'll do today that will impact what life I have left? Probably eat a Big Mac or something that will clog my arteries. Then again, maybe I'll send a check to my favorite charity and help save a little mountain stream.

May 25, 2006 at 10:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am frightened of do overs...because then there would be a chain reaction of changes. I will accept the bad to be able to keep the wonderful that has happened in my life.

Good post and I love the show Medium.

Take care,
Connie

May 25, 2006 at 11:16 PM  
Blogger Carole Burant said...

Hi autumn..thank you so much for the lovely comment you left on my blog:-) I've been checking out your blog and find the posts so very interesting and I hope you don't mind if I add you to my favourite links? As for the question you're asking here..if I could change anything, it would be that I wouldn't have gotten married at 18 years old, I hadn't even experienced life then. But, saying that, I'm glad I had my boys at an early age and I wouldn't change that.

May 26, 2006 at 7:36 AM  
Blogger JBlue said...

Hey, Autumn, thanks for dropping by my blog. I know I'm late to comment on this, but it did interest me since I've thought about the butterfly effect a lot. I think about things I would want to change, but then I remember my two young children, and I'm not sure I could bring myself to change anything, given the chance.

May 28, 2006 at 10:09 PM  

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