I've got no strings

Some of us fly through life seemingly bent on having a wonderful time.  Others careen through, bouncing off wall after wall, hitting some head on.

I have to wonder what causes these anomalies?  Obviously a good majority of people simply walk forward, sometimes planning, other times taking their chances, but generally being fairly conservative.

It could be the luck of the draw, but as one of four children born to relatively conservative parents I am not so sure.  Our parents often told us stories, or voiced wishful thoughts about what life could be like, or was like for the rare genius, or rascal.  There was always a rash behavior of some sort followed by a downfall that turned out to be a windfall. These were only stories, completely unlike either parent.

Unfortunately there was never much discussion about how or why these stories played out in the end and that I believe is the secret ingredient to choosing life styles. (Or perhaps simply falling into them.)

My youngest brother was sort of adopted by our next door neighbors and when that happened he acquired a "father figure" who imparted many practical bits of wisdom not based on vague creativity or luck.  Consequently he grew up to be very methodical and very hard working.  He knew the best way to get from A to B was to develop a plan and follow it and he did just that.

Others rushed pell mell helter skelter into life looking for the drama, the romance, the excitement and found it to be much like running across a plowed cornfield barefoot.  Run one way and get into a furrow and life moved right along, sometimes confining, not too exciting, but safe.  Run across the tops of the farrows and life was a bumpy, sometimes exciting, but mostly harrowing experience. Life had definite ups and downs.

And one married a puppet master who pulled enough strings that it didn't matter what else happened.  

So I suppose I believe that life is what you choose to make it.  You just need to remember that there is a choice.