"I Could Happen!" (Not A Typo. I Meant To Say "I")

That's what I said just now while fixing my coffee and imagining some nice things happening to me: instead of saying "It could happen!" I said "I could happen!"

And I think it was one of the finest Freudian slips I've ever performed. "I could happen!" emphasizes my own role in my future, while "It could happen!" emphasizes the role of chance. Would I still like to win the Nobel Prize in Literature or find a huge laundry bag stuffed with $1000 bills or several tons of gold, or both, or have Reese Witherspoon fall in love with me? Of course! But whether any of those things ever happen to me or not, the quality and utility of my life will still depend on what I do -- they will still depend on me "happening," or not happening so much.

I'm not in an iron lung just yet. I still have two arms and two legs -- although one of my knees hurts at the moment, but hey, I'm almost 54 years old, one or both of my knees are supposed to hurt now and then. This is the knee whose LCL I ripped 12 years ago. That's right: LCL, not ACL. I always hear about people tearing their anterior cruciate ligaments, but I tore my lateral collateral ligament, shortly after setting a personal best on the leg press: 10 reps at 600 lbs. There may be a connection there, between the 10 reps at 600 lbs (These weren't 3-inch "presses," I bent my knees well past 90 degrees each rep, and I wasn't pushing my thighs with my hands in the well-known arm-and-leg press, they were legit), and the LCL suddenly giving way weeks later.

You know what? Maybe there was no connection. I've never used a trainer, I've never discussed this with a doctor, what the Hell do I know? Maybe my LCL would've been better off if I'd done more heavy leg presses.

But that's not the point here, the point is that I can still go on. I don't have to lay around on my back all day today moaning and groaning because I've got a sore knee. I can research the human knee if I so choose. I can consult with trainers and MD's.

The point is that I can happen, in many different ways.

And so can you.