The Warrior

I was reading in bed last nigh, a "Guilty pleasure" as they say that you should not either read, eat or watch tv in bed.  I find that reading in bed relaxes a knot in my brain and allows me to sleep.  I am reading "Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher; a collection of short stories that happen in and around his Dresden files books, often exploring other characters rather than focusing on Harry.  He talks a bit before each of the stories, explaining why he wrote it ( for an anthology or some sort of challenge)  The story "The Warrior" was written after he had the realization that something he had said to someone five years earlier had had a major impact on someone else's life and it  got him thinking about a character that was injured badly in another novel.  It's a good story.  I do like Butcher's style.  The story got ME thinking about things as well.  Sometimes we say something or do something that impacts people in ways we cannot know; after all aren't WE all here as a result of a random collection of encounters and decisions made by people we never knew?  If my parents hadn't each decided to go swimming at the St George Hotel in July of 1949 I wouldn't be here.  I know I have had people say to me that something I said made them think about doing something  differently and it changed their lives.  It's a shock to think that some random comment by someone can make such a vast difference, or that deciding to go right rather than left can be a difference between life and death.  My Dad was at the Battle of the Bulge.  His unit split up, the medics going one way , the rest of the unit going the other. The medics got away, but the rest of the unit was captured by the Germans.  My Dad was in the medics.

I am in the midst of making a decision about a change that must be made in my life.  I am listening to people as they talk to me about the choice I must make, but ultimately it will be that little voice inside me that will guide me.  I will be still and try to let that voice grow stronger.  I always say that when the time comes to make the decision the choice will be clear and there will be no other choice.  I am struggling with it right now, but should know for certain very soon which path I will choose.