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No Guarantees

The other day I discovered that one my favorite comedies, Trailer Park Boys, is going to be leaving Netflix on March 1. Since then, I've been frantically watching the entire series. There's something about the ensemble of people and the raunchy antics that makes me feel a little nostalgic. I grew up around those kinds of people, and while I don't agree with their life choices, I do understand that people do desperate things when they're in desperate situations. It's life.

So I decided to see if I could find my childhood best friend online. In the process I stumbled upon her brother and his family. I still remember their wedding at a little independent Baptist church. Fresh in my memory is the day they moved away and the time they ate in the restaurant where I once worked. A lot of life has passed by in those 26 years, and they're still together. Everything indicator was stacked against them...and they defied them all.

What stuck with me is that we really have no way of making predictions about life. Some of the people I thought would go on to greatness are squaloring in the mire of nothingness. Others who I was sure would amount to nothing are thriving. Too many of them are no longer here. I think of the choices I've made that seemed so right at the time and then took a sudden turn. And those that made no sense to anyone but somehow ended up being just what I needed.

I think this is why I tend to reserve judgment about the life choices of my loved ones. Who am I to say anything? Who are you? It seems to me that all any of us can do is deal with the world as we it--from moment to moment--and take the path that seems to make the most sense. And if we fail? We fail. That's where grace enters the picture. All I know that is that this life was made for living. And that life is messy and beautiful and filled with magic and tragedy.

And I love it.

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