Turn of Events - Changing the Course of a Life

My Dad at about the time he became a Bevin Boy

I've written before about how I believe in fate - or chance - whatever you want to call it, so this week's blog was right up my street.  There have been numerous times in my life when one event has set off a chain of others.  I love the way this can happen.  As in the film, Sliding Doors, I'm always aware that one decision can send things flying in a different direction. In my case, there has usually been a happy ending. 

This morning, pondering on what to write for this post, I spoke to my dad about an incident he'd told me about in his earlier life.  I was thinking I might include it in the post.  As we talked, I was impressed with his memory of events, the details that had obviously stuck in his mind.  In passing, he told me he'd once written it all down and if he could find it he'd send it to me. 

Half an hour later (after a few blips and phone calls) an email appeared in my inbox. My intention was to include some of the story in my post, but having read it, and been transported back to the 1940s, I took the unprecedented decision to include the piece in its entirety.  It was written in 2011, and the only amendments are that he has now been married sixty eight years and has eight great grandchildren, and two step great grandchildren. 

So here, without further ado is dad's account of a Turn of Events that began in 1943. (With apologies for quality and different sizes - they were sent as PNG files and try as I might, I can't get the images of the pages the same size)

The Reason I am Here by Jill Reidy 

Who would have thought

That a loose shoe lace 

Could have caused such a turn of events?

The serendipity of a random digit 

The lace undone

That decision

To stop and tie 

While others overtook 

And sealed their own inevitable fate 

Is the reason I am here 

Once a pacifist

That eager boy 

Dreaming of the fight

To save his country

Initial disappointment 

A small price to pay 

For seventy more years

A wife and family

And a life well lived

Scarred knees 

The only reminders 

Of a lace untied 

The decision

The lucky pause

That changed the course 

Of a young man's life 

And the reason I am here

Thanks for reading      Jill