"It is simple, I tell my gathering of friends. We understand the power of accident and magic in human affairs. We know better than anyone the immense unanswerable powers of fate, and how one day can shift the course of ten thousand lives. Fate can catapult them into lives they were never meant to lead until they stumbled into one immortal day." ~Pat Conroy,South of Broad

Yesterday I finished reading Pat Conroy's newest novel set in his beloved South Carolina. Having visited this beautiful part of our country a couple of times, I can see his passion for, not only the landscape of the Low Country, but also his dedication to portraying the interesting, often quirky, people whose use of American English can sound like butter spreading on warm bread. Like so many of his other intricate and rich stories, this book is full of uniquely Southern characters, people you would not meet in any other part of the world.

But what captured my attention most was stated in these last few lines of the book. The characters, thrown together through a series of odd circumstances, come to be life-long, soul-bound friends. Fate? I'm not sure what to make of it but I think we can all probably think of one or two people in our lives that we would not have chosen, that came to us in an out of the ordinary way, that now make up the circle of care in which we travel. I know I certainly have a few friends, close friends, that I would describe in this way.

Throughout the book Conroy weaves a story that brings these people in and out of one another's lives in ways that sometimes seem impossible, sometimes healthy and helpful, other times downright hurtful and crazy. Such is life, I suppose, and the result of what it means to give yourself to the intricacies of relationship. Again, I am sure we can all name one or two people who require more energy, more care, more compassion, than we can sometimes muster.

Yet, if we are open to the fullness of the gifts of living, we can find ourselves in the stew pot with a wide array of other people who can bring a richness to our lives we never imagined. If we are not interested in controlling too carefully the trajectory we travel on life's path, we may find adventure and novelty shows up at our door. And isn't that what makes life interesting?

Today may find us eating, playing, working with those we've been with for some time. We will know what to expect and that is not a bad thing. But what if, what if, we turned our head just so and smiled at the person sitting at the coffee shop table nearby and started up a conversation? What if we took a different route to our office or the grocery store and encountered something that would change our course forever? What if, unbeknownst to us, there is an adventure waiting just around a corner we've taken over and over, an adventure waiting for the right moment to open its door?

These could only be Labor Day musings. But then again, they could be the start of something big.