Chaos Theory

Small seemingly slight variations on what might be perceived as the norm can have unknown repercussions hours days, or years later. We may or may not even know those repercussions as the impact of a decision is the absence of an event or a crisis. I had this thought yesterday when at the last minute, I chose to not take the side streets the last stretch of my route, but the freeway instead. I later learned there was quite an accident about the same time in the same location I might have been in that accident. had I taken my normal route. Theses seemingly meaningless deviations could change a life trajectory. This is the essence of chaos theory. 

Decisions matter,  but more and more I am convinced life is more a crap shoot, the roll of the dice.  I've been reading blog posts written by or with a story of folks who have made the worst possible life decisions time and time again, and each time their life is tipped upside down, they land on two feet, almost stronger. Perhaps they are not being super honest, but stories of multiple bankruptcy, bouts of unemployment, and ta da, an inheritance comes their way. Similarly, I know of a family where the parents seemingly did everything correct. They lived below their means, invested in retirement, and saved for college for their two children. She had a stroke in her late thirty's, losing one of their incomes and racking up medical debt. They were under insured, and suddenly their good planning was not enough. 

I often think about, more as an amusing thought, not a regret, about my personal chaos theory. My original post high school plans was to go to a community college in Minneapolis and live in a small apartment with two girls I met at an orientation. I didn't think I could afford to go to a university. My older sister  convinced me that perhaps a better idea would be to commute at least at first, to a state college and not cut off my options. So many things were different for me because of that change. I doubt I would have met my husband, would  not have my children, would not have probably settled back in my home town. That's the impact potential on me. But what about the folks whose life I may have changed, unknown to me. Is there some other version of a spouse out there? What life is someone else living because we never met. It's an interesting thought to me.