Randomness? Fate? God? Vote now.

My outlaws, sorry - that should read in-laws, last year celebrated their golden wedding. But before they met, as a young man Father-In-Law nearly emigrated to New Zealand. If he had, of course, their four sons would never have been born and neither would my four kids.

I find that sort of story interesting. I have lots of them, as no doubt you have too. Is it all just random? I tend to think not, of course, but lots of people would say yes.

I'm also interested in how couples met, as so often it seems they could just as easily not have done.

A few years ago I conducted two funerals, about a year apart, of an elderly married couple. I asked how they met and loved the story. He was a shepherd. She was a maid in The Big House. They were expected to get all spruced up (as you did in those days) and go to church on a Sunday. During the service, he bent down to pick up a dropped hymn book, and as he came up, banged his head off the book-rest shelf thing on the back of the pew in front. She, being only about eighteen, got a great fit of the giggles which carried on for ages, and led to them speaking after the service!


But for me personally here's a cracker of an "It could all have been so different" story:
A long time ago, an ancestor of mine once emigrated to America. He bought a bit of farmland and worked it for a while but then decided he was homesick, so he sold it and came home. The bit of farmland was part of Manhattan Island!!