I beat the odds.

I’m a product of random chance. That’s the nature of life. The nice thing is that I've had ample opportunities to take advantage of random chance. And even to give it meaning. For instance, I’ve had two true loves in my life. They appeared on the scene by random chance. And I could have ignored both of ‘em. But I didn’t. I pursued both opportunities. And I look at these random chances as blessings. As if they were meant to be. Preordained. Maybe one could say they weren’t. But I choose to be a romantic idealist. And therefore in interpreting life, I find and give meaning to much of what happens. By so-called random chance. The fact that I was born had to be a convergence of millions of random chances. If just one of ‘em had gone awry, I wouldn’t be. It had to be a specific sperm from my specific father and a specific egg from my specific mother -- that found each other. Eureka! There I was. Evolving into a conscious human being. My gawd. It’s fantastic. The odds of me being me must be more than 50 trillion to one. Yes, my emergence into the world is extraordinary. Almost beyond belief. If I weren’t here, I wouldn’t believe it. I beat the odds. –Jim Broede