The Ghost of Almost

The book you didn’t finish writing would have changed the lives of many people.

The band you gave up on would have radically changed the world of music even more so than The Beatles.

The family vacation you didn’t take would have been the last time your whole family would be together and happy. Your dad would die two weeks later.

The dog you didn’t save from being euthanized at the local shelter would have saved your son from drowning that cold day in November.

The orphan who sits on her bed praying for a family to come take her home and love her will never get adopted. She will become homeless and die of a drug overdose. If she had been adopted, she would have become the next Mother Theresa.

The man who never proposed to his girlfriend out of fear of ending up like his parents died, sad and alone.

The vacation to Hawaii you wanted to take twenty years ago, but never did, would have changed your whole life. You would have met your soul mate and eloped on the beach. You would still be happily married today.

The girl you see on your bus every day that sits in the same seat with the same black fingernail polish and the loneliest look in her eyes wants to kill herself. If you had sat next to her that last day, you would have made a new friend. She would have been a bridesmaid at your wedding. Her parents were the only ones that went to her funeral.

If you had quit the corporate job that makes you miserable, you would still have a good relationship with your children.

The homeless man on the street corner that you drive by without a second glance would have used that dollar you gave him to buy a lottery ticket. He would have won millions and used the money to help find a cure for aids.

The old lady sitting in her rocking chair talking to her grandchildren about life has terminal cancer. She tells her grandchildren stories of love and adventure from her younger days. Her grandson will ask, “So did you do everything in life you always wanted to, Grandma?”

“Almost,” she says.