Much Ado About Fate

I almost made it. Almost. Twelve minutes short of seeing Much Ado About Nothing. Live. Performed on stage in Chicago. I haven't seen that one yet. Twelve minutes. Now a lot can happen in twelve minutes Takeru Kobayashi can eat 53 hot dogs, you can cook a pizza (if your oven is already hot), have a shower, feed three kids breakfast, make them lunches while tending to several pets (don't ask how I know this one) - but it seems such a short amount of time when it comes to live Shakespeare.
I could blame the piles of wet snow, the 40 minute drive to pick up my friend, but more likely I took too long with my hair (it did look cute) and with my fancy outfit (heels even), and of course then I couldn't find my purse etc etc, and then to top it off a make a critical wrong turn. All my fault. My friend said forget it, so I turned around defeated.

Perhaps I am unorganized. It could be argued, that subconsciously I sabotage myself - OR that somehow fate intervened. Somehow instead of watching live Shakespeare that I was meant to be sitting in this corner of a upscale bar drinking whiskey listening to a boorish-no-necked-crew-cutted-smelly-cigar-smoking-man, scribbling away in my journal liked some crazed introvert. I mean who could argue with a fate like that? Hanging with The Beautiful People of my very pleasant town, I could be writing this at home - but did I mention I was wearing a dress? Lipstick? And heels? One doesn't (at least I didn't) want to waste that kind of fussing about, and anyhow the last time I was here it was much quieter (forgot it was a Friday night, this will give a small clue about my social life)

Ah well, back to how I got here.

Twelve minutes. T W E L E V E minutes and my friend with the free (did I mention free?) Much Ado about Nothing tickets (the free ones) says forget it- decides to stay home and clean her bathroom. (bathroom, yes) I did mention the cute hair right? sheesh.
Right so now its me, an Irish whiskey the bald headed, very loud, v e r y bad piano singer, the cigar smokers, and the beautiful people - all because of a dress.
So back to fate, really an easy out in a lot of ways.... "It was meant to be" and whoosh there goes the responsibility out the proverbial window. It works very well when you find that great parking spot (karma is handy catch all here to, but I'll save that for another day), meeting the man of your dreams (until he turns out to be an embezzler or a womanizer or something), or the quirky way you met you best friend (but how do you know there weren't 10 other best friends you didn't meet?).

In Greek mythology they had the Three Greek Goddesses of Destiny and Fate, otherwise known as the Moirae - timeless old women who wove and controlled the treads of destiny that controlled your life. They are CLOTHO spinner of Life, LACHESIS who measures and allots the length of the your thread, and ATROPOS who holds the scissors, and will make the final cut so to speak. All the good and evil that happens to you in your life - your destiny as its been woven, cannot be altered, not even a tiny bit. Unfair? Sure, but where would we get those remarkable Greek tragedies without it?

Sisters

the string
draws you to dance
fair is foul ~ foul is fair
Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos
spinner, measurer and cutter of life
lurching end - La Danse Macabre
through fog and filthy air
Atropos cuts
the string

Macbeth is the ultimate examination in fate. Here we have a reasonably ambitious man, but would he have gone to the lengths he did if those witches had not told him of his destiny? his future? Would there have been a story at all? Was Macbeth corrupted by the witches or did he choose his path all on his own. Free will vs. Destiny. Makings of a Greek tragedy - but better (if you ask me that is) its Shakespeare!

Given the choice would you want to know your future? Do you want to know when Atropos will be bringing her scissors for your thread, or even what Lachesis' plans are with it? or even how Clotho has spun it? If you're out walking the dog, or riding the bike one day when you encounter someone or ones who offer to tell your future - do you want to know? I know we say we will walk away, or run with our fingers in our ears calling la la la la la I can't hear you - but would we? Would the temptation be too sweet? I don't know.... What kind of spin would it put on your life - knowing? Now, if I were any good at all, or were working harder at this I would now insert a brilliant bit of wit or at least a joke that tied together spun (spinning, yarn, scissors - something!)- the fates - and Macbeth's witches, but alas and alack - I am not, and there is not even a lame pun to be had here. But wouldn't it be something if it was Macbeth that I missed this evening (I would be crying into my Jamison's for that!)

Really, in the end - is there such a thing as fate? Was I meant to be here tonight beside these rude cigar smoking men, writing, listening to bad piano music? Well I likely wouldn't have written this story had I gone home, and definitely not had I made it to the play. Given the choice however I think I absolutely would have preferred the play (I suspect no one will read this anyway).

There is a philosophy I have been trying to adopt for my life - it sounds great in theory - a little trickier in practice. It involves letting go basically, and flowing with that river (or wind, or how ever you would like to visualize it) that is your life. When you can manage it, it feels wonderful, no fighting the current, no being pulled under, no gasping for air, just flowing and accepting that your life is flowing as it should - sometimes there are rapids, sometimes lagoons, and if you're me right now waterfalls (must stop clinging to this rock on the edge and go with it and trust things will turn out). So is it a form of fate? Accepting a destiny? Don't know, but it IS an easier way to manage when you hand over some of the control of your life.

In the end, no matter what you call it, does it really matter? What happens will happen. Perhaps it is less important what happens to you, then how you deal with it.
"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: A rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights." ~ unknown

I've never had my luggage lost (mangled yes, but not lost), but when dumped tonight I came here and wrote - now just what does that say about me? (a certain amount of vanity to say the least!)

Time to go home and hang with my dogs, toss these heels for the nice fuzzy socks Catherine got me for Christmas and this dress for my Pjs - this I think was meant to be...