Life is...

I recently stumbled across a photograph taken of a group of singles from late teens to mid-20s, taken in the early 1970s. The photo was taken outside a hotel ballroom. It was at a formal dance. I knew all 8 of the people. One not so well as I’d like (me!). I used to have laughs with most of them. But I reflect now on the disposition of them. One became my employee for awhile and ultimately had what I think has been a successful marriage. Two others, standing together, eventually married each other, and he started a business and was my client for a time. He committed suicide several years later. Next to him is another who also committed suicide. That’s 25% of the group! Well, maybe the second guy didn’t kill himself, but he did overdose on sleeping pills, and the number taken didn’t seem accidental. Next to him is a brother of the gal that became the wife of the first suicide. That brother married a pretty girl and later left her and their children. The other two: I don’t know what happened with one, but the other had a fairly successful career and marriage so far as I can tell. Nice to end with a success story.

If that happy group could had had the future unveiled just before that picture was taken, the smiles I see there would surely have been forced or turned into frowns. Life is what happens when we are making other plans.