(re)Memory continued...

Most times I think it is just my English Major/douchebaggery that makes me look for patterns in life. Sometimes, I think it is God/Life/fate or whathaveyou. Regardless, the whole idea of memory and past has been on my mind a lot as of recently.

It is crazy to look back on your life and think about how different you would be if you had reacted differently in certain situations, or if situations had just gone differently.

4th Grade - I really wanted to play PopWarner football. When 5th Grade rolled around and I was given the opportunity to play, I vehemently turned it down...for no apparent reason.
15 years old - I was able to travel to Cambridge to study for three weeks in the summer. While there, I decided to go out to a club with my group. While there, I saw a girl in line who evoked such visceral emotions from me - emotions so powerful I've never felt anything like them before. I then spent the last week of my trip there with her, and she ended up shaping the next 4-5 years of my life in drastic ways.
16 years old - I go and see my younger sister's play. While there, the Lead of the play spots me and thinks I am good looking. Through an awkward and unbelievable set of circumstances, I end up becoming best friends with the Lead. We have so many memories together, it is insane.
Freshman year of college - my friend has me talk to her younger sister, and we hit it off. Through a crazy series of events we end up becoming involved with one another a few years later.

I could go on and on. But I won't.

I will end by saying that...I think I always end up in the right place at the right time. Like today. Instead of having my normal class, we went to go see a special speaker. I walked in to find a close friend there, a friend who was not at all excited about this speaker or what he had to say. After 50 minutes, we walked out of that lecture hall together, and she was so angry and filled with emotion that she was shaking and barely able to form sentences. But I was there for her, and I listened to her vent, and when she was drained, I offered my support and advice.
What would have happened had I not been there? Would she have found someone else to vent to right away? Would she have bottled her anger away and let it fester?
What would have happened?
What would have happened if...