“As I sat next to him on the piano bench, I said, “What if I’d never walked into the music store . . .”

Sam smiled gently and looked at me as he played the keys on the piano ever so softly. And then he said, “But you did.”

I decided that was my answer to questions of fate. I could go around asking myself what if x hadn’t happened, and the answer would always be, “But it did.”

What if Jesse hadn’t gotten on that helicopter?

But he did.

I decided to no longer wonder what would have happened if things had worked out differently. And instead, I would focus on what was in front of me. I would focus on reality instead of asking myself questions about fictions.”