For many years, even when younger, I would sometimes look back on the changes of my life, each a different chapter, each unexpected, and each leading me in a new direction. I have, without a conscious plan, moved on often leaving, without wishing to, some people I would have preferred to hang on to.

I feel like the cat with nine lives. Each chapter is so very different from the one before. Who could have anticipated them? I remember meeting a couple years ago who seemed very happy together. Jay and I befriended them and visited them. I was only 30 or so at the time. I learned from my 40ish hostess that this was her second marriage and she had been married to her first husband for 20 years before divorcing. At 30, the thought of having lived 20 years with someone was awesome and I wondered how she could leave and start over.

A year or so later, she did it again. Our friend, Jerry, her husband, told us he had gone on a business trip. When he got back, she was gone. He couldn’t understand it. Their time together before he left had been close and loving. He then found newspaper ad sections for apartments dated during the time he thought they were getting along, and saw her notations. She had been planning the move for some time. We kept in touch with both for a time. Jerry remarried. I don’t know about her.

So here I am in the umpteenth chapter, living in Paradise, semi-vegetating compared to former times and trying not to lose ground as I age. I always wonder what’s around the corner.

xx, Teal