I remember a time in my life when I had two parties to go to on the same Friday night – one was a long-standing annual event, one of my favorites of the year that I wouldn’t think of missing. But, as luck would have it, a new organization that I just joined was also having a party that night, so I hoped to squeeze in both.

As the fun and games of the annual party wound down around 10:45 pm, and people started to depart, I sent a text to a friend in the other group asking her if that party was still going. If she’d said it was, I would have left then, driven about half an hour up the coast, through some winding, dark streets to a house I’d never been to to hang out with people I didn’t know, but was pretty excited about getting to know better, especially in a strictly social situation.

My friend never texted back, so instead I stayed at party #1.

You know how there’s always the party crowd that disperses and the small gathering that stays much later – generally ten or so people who prefer the quiet conversation that can follow a raucous event? That’s what I accidentally was part of, by virtue of not getting a text saying to come on over to the other place.

It was awesome! The conversation was enlightening and joyful and at times, hysterical, and I’m so glad to have been a part of it, late into the night.

The next morning, my friend from the other group sent an apologetic email. She didn’t have cell service at the party and hadn’t gotten my text, but it went until 1:00 a.m. so I could have gone after all and probably had a great time.

Could have…

But I believe that in situations like this that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be. Who knows what would have happened if I’d tried to go to the other party? I might have had a car accident looking for the house, or I might have met a producer there who would set up my next script at a studio for a million dollars. We don’t get to see the alternate timeline.

The point is – I don’t know, and so, I don’t care. More importantly, I choose not to care. There is never a reason to dwell on the unknown, or to worry about what you’re missing, because the truth is, you aren’t missing anything.  You are always right where you’re supposed to be.