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Showing posts with the label fate

To the Female Driver Who Nearly Killed Me on Friday, the Thirteenth

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What could have been, but (thankfully) wasn't _____________________ “Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” – Joyce Meyer _____________________ On open letter to the female driver who nearly killed me... You, going east on Route 30 in your snazzy blue and white striped Camaro, ran a red light as my husband, westbound, was making a left turn onto North George Street from Route 30 (York, Pennsylvania), almost T-boning the passenger side of our car, missing by inches. Where I was riding. Had my husband not sped up, God knows what might have happened. Serious injury for sure, perhaps my death. It was Friday, the 13th, June 2014 – in my case, a lucky day and a driver (my husband) with excellent reflexes. As my husband carefully navigated around a disabled car stuck in the left-turn lane and nudged into the intersection, the traffic light had just turned yellow, so I know that your light was still red because o

Do You Believe in Fate?

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Jennifer Semple's bus ticket receipt and ticket envelope from May 1, 1969 ________________________________ Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence . --Ralph Waldo Emerson I'm not sure that I believe in fate per se , but I do believe that a series of small decisions can move people in unexpected directions. Forty-two years ago, I made a decision that dramatically changed the course of my life. The above images represent this major shift in my life, but it didn't occur all of a sudden--a series of events, some minor and some major--led me to leave Iowa and escape to Pennsylvania, where I have lived ever since. I wrote a memoir about this shift; if you're curious, I have posted some excerpts from it here . Had I not moved to Pennsylvania, my life would have been dramatically different--how, I don't know. I suspect that my life would have been less successful, but who knows? Maybe that "movie agent" who approached me on the stree

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment