The Burn: What It All Meant (Part VIII)

Every story is about what happened and what it meant. I’ve become well-versed in telling what happened, but what it all meant is still unfolding. A fan of quotes like, “everything happens for a reason” and “an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance,” I often look for connections when none may exist. 

That is when I don’t imagine life as a kaleidoscope — every time you shake it, a new arrangement comes up from an infinite number of possibilities, not better or worse, just different and random. 

There is magic in both beliefs; the difference is in faith. Maybe we don’t need to know what’s behind those decisive moments in life that create a massive change. 

After coming to Indiana as an exchange student and getting both of my degrees there, I lived and worked in New York City, Chicago, with a year in Switzerland somewhere in between, making my way to San Francisco in 2011. Along the way, I found a new family, new friends, and many adventures in America — all of whom have expanded my world and co-created my path.

Did I have to get burned to find my path? Was San Francisco my destination all along? Or was it all a chain of random events, just slightly more dramatic than the rest of life? Or did it all result from a series of decisions? Maybe it’s all of these things, maybe none. The point is I lived to tell the story, my scars serving as a reminder of both fragility and resilience of human life.