The other week I had breakfast with my friend Bob who was just about to launch marketing on the first in an e-book trilogy he had written (under the pseudonym of Catlan Samuels) titled Journey. (apologies, Bob, if I am giving too much information on authorship!)

The story was inspired by a true romantic event that occurred in his life a number of years ago.  He spoke about the writing of the book, sharing how strange it was that the book and characters seemed to take on a life of their own.

“You plan for one thing to happen, but then your characters take you someplace else.”

As I was walking the dog on a beautiful chilly morning, I reflected on his words and how life does that too. I’m sure that when my friend began dating the woman who inspired the story, he never anticipated that his relationship would become the foundation for a book.  I certainly never expected to be on the life journey I am on.

Fifteen years ago, I would have bet a month’s salary that I would not be living back in Rochester, NY, walking a dog.  Back then, I was a confirmed “Big Apple-ite,” my husband and I had been married a year and my children were felines. I was happily working as an executive at a trade association where I’d been for  a dozen years. Soon came the storm. Jim, the  inspiring CEO I’d worked with for a number of years left to start his own company. I soon found myself captive in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. I watched in horror as one-by-one, my colleagues were dispensed.  Not having had the zoological training of Pi (Life of Pi), my attempts to tame the tiger proved futile and I chose to abandon ship.

Since then, I’ve undertaken a number of new initiatives that, if money were the only barometer used to measure them, would be considered failures. If education were the barometer, this past twelve to fifteen years has been the most inspirational time of my life. Thank goodness that the financial rewards are finally beginning to catch up with the educational rewards. Life is about balance and it’s difficult to thrive exclusively on either educational or  financial rewards.

Each time I get frustrated that “the successes” have not been more monetarily rewarding, I think of the words of another wise friend named Thomas.

When I asked him how the many things he’s interested in impacts his art, he said to me,  “Carol, I’m very lucky.  When I was growing up, my parents never said, ‘Thomas, you can be anything you want to be. They said ‘Thomas, you can be everything you want to be.'”

So for those of us who feel baffled by life’s turn of events, it’s important to remember that life is a journey and it takes on a life of its own. We have little control over most aspects of it. It is how we respond to those turns of events that offer opportunity. In George Elliot’s words, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

P.S. Congratulations to Bob/Catlan on the publication of Journey. I look forward to reading it!