Everything Happens For A Reason

Everything Happens For A Reason.

I believe this statement has a religious connotation, however, anyone who knows me the slightest bit, knows I am not a religious person. Does everything happen for a reason? I use to despise the thought of it. I felt it gave a person an excuse for not holding up their end of the bargain. My mom told me this 2 years after she elected to leave me and my 2 younger brothers in Dallas. During one of our few phone conversations over that 7 year period I finally had the courage to ask her, "How could you leave us?" Her response was simply, "Trapper, everything happens for a reason."


So, here I am in South America. I decided to go to a place where I do not know the language or the streets...a difficult combination! I elected to come here because of a string of events that I do not believe would have happened by chance. First, in the midst of my Rio de Janeiro trip in 2009, during a random encounter, I was asked if I ever read a book called The Alchemist. Then, three weeks later, I went to dinner and was asked the same question, but this time it was by a person in Texas! How could two people ask the same individual the same question in two different continents in a span of three weeks?


Two days later I opened The Alchemist and learned it was about a young man going on a journey to find a treasure. He had to decide between the life he already established for himself and an unknown life in an unknown land. During the three weeks prior to being asked the second time about The Alchemist, my mother and I had serious talks about me leaving the country for 4-5 years to learn a new culture and language. Oddly familiar. I recall saying, "I do not know why I feel so compelled to do this, just that I must do it." These were serious conversations that lasted hours and often involved tears.

The book spoke to me like no other book has ever spoke to me. The next morning while driving to work I marveled at the string of events that led me to have the book in my hand. "Two different people, in two different countries, asking the same person the same question. What are the chances of that? Then for the book to be about a young man going on a journey..." I was astounded!

During my drive to work, I would often listen to audio books. One of my favorites is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I have listened to these four disc countless times on my ipod, therefore, I usually just start at a random part and listen. This particular morning I began at disc 2. Fifteen minutes into the disc, Bob Proctor said, "You will attract everything that you require...if it is people you need you will attract them, if it is a certain book you need you will attract it." At that moment I felt as if there was a huge, flashing neon light saying, "How many more hints do I need to give you?"

I became overjoyed and tears began to flow down my cheeks. At that moment I knew the life I established, although wonderful, would end soon because a better one was on the horizon. Does everything happen for a reason? I do not presume to know the answer quite yet, but we shall soon see!