# Chapter 127

People are not lost, simply because they are not on your path to whatever or wherever. For example the path leading this born and bred Southern to live in Pennsylvania is so twisted and warped as to be unbelievable. You think not? What if I told you it led through Yugoslavia and Russia? True too. Our paths to the present are rarely similar. The world seems to be overly sensitive to whether or not we are on the same path. But few people have walked my path, if any, ever. And that is ok, because we are all different. It’s what makes life interesting! We all have a different perspective on the rain, but we are all experiencing the same storm of the present.

I love working with my two friends both of who I share some very deep experiences living and working abroad, and yet we are as about as different as possible. Luckily for me, they both have a solid working understanding of Southerners so I am safe! And lucky for them I have a solid working understanding of Northerners and Midwesterners. But our origins are less important than our shared experiences along the path to where we are today. Yet we know that we were shaped to a point by those origins. Bernie and Jeff are both younger than me, but yet they both inspire me and encourage me in so many ways. The point here again is that they are not lost, simply because they are finding happiness and fulfillment in ways different from me. My way is a way. Not The way. Same is true for you. Let’s relax and let people be who they are and enjoy the stories of how they got here.