What incident changed your life forever?

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   DDEposted 9 years ago

   What incident changed your life forever?
   
   People make different choices and sometimes  certain incidents can change your life forever. What was your greatest move that changed your life and you  know that nothing will ever be the same again?

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2. 91

   poppyrposted 9 years ago

   Going to Japan was a pretty big deal because I met my husband there.  He's from the USA and I'm from the UK, so if we hadn't met in Tokyo we wouldn't have met at all.  It wasn't so much an 'incident' as a chance chain of events.  But we're very happy it happened

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      DDEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      A wonderful match and so interesting of you met. I met my husband in SA and he is Croatian. Thank you

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      RockyMountainMomposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I somehow missed this comment earlier, and nearly duplicated the chain of events part! I also never would have met my husband otherwise. Alaska was not as far away, but clearly you both understand that piece.  Very neat.

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3. 93

   jansharesposted 9 years ago

   Hi DDE. Since you specifically refer to events based on choices we made, I'd say leaving the stability of a job with a salary and stepping out on my own to expand my solo business. It has changed my lifestyle forever. But if I could speak to incidents that changed my outlook forever, not related to choices I made, I'd put 9/11 as #1 and the Beltway Shootings as #2. Those incidents changed the choices I made about something as routine as going to a gas station to fill my tank or riding the train on a particular day. Increased awareness about terrorist attacks in the US changed my perceptions about how we, as opposed to the rest of the world, take our safety and freedoms for granted.

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      DDEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly that we tend to take daily activities for granted and not see much until tragedy strikes thank you.

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4. 77

   IndependentMindposted 9 years ago

   Sadly, it was the death of the only person i have ever loved in this lifetime;  and have never been able to replace.
   If i had never had to experience that tragedy my life today would be totally different.  It was over 45 years ago, and the pain is as real today as when it happened. 
   Everything else that had changing effects were pale in comparison.

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      DDEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry about  your loss. Nobody can understand that or feel that unless they were in your shoes. Thank you for sharing your experience. God Bless!

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   RockyMountainMomposted 9 years ago

   As with janshares' answer, my events are broken into choice-based versus non-choice-based events.
   
   By choice:
   
   An exchange program to Alaska as an undergraduate brought my husband and I together over sixteen years ago.  He and our two children make that my highest ranking event, as it took a very precise chain of events from that decision for my husband and I to cross paths. 
   
   Also as with the answer from janshares, I've left a good salary (recently). I've done this in order to regain my health after a Lyme disease relapse this spring.  So we'll see in a year (my employer gave me a year to think about it---the scoundrels!) whether or not this ranks second.  Second so far is fighting being forced into disability in my first year of Lyme disease, resulting in a federal disability discrimination case (and getting my job back after flying to DC to mediate).
   
   Non-choice events:
   
   Our daughter's miraculous recovery from abdominal tumors without chemo as a toddler.
   
   Contracting Lyme disease four years ago, enduring Bell's palsy early on, and being misdiagnosed for the first three years of this illness.
   
   These are the kind of events that shake you out of the life sucking politics of our daily lives.  Unfortunately we humans sometimes need more than a few to really make the learning stick.
   
   I'm struggling now to regain my health, but also to forgive the broken elements of our health care regulatory structure that caused it, and to accept that some of the damage from the three year delay in treatment may be with me for longer than I want them to be.

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      DDEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Wow! What an experience for you. Sometimes one has to face up to any challenge and you  are very strong to have come this far with all that you have been through thank you and take care

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   Penny Gposted 9 years ago

   Seeing an Angel rescue my small son and than vanish before my eyes!

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      DDEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Incredible feeling! Thank you

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