This I Believe

I believe in fate. I believe things happen for a reason. Whenever I tell people I am a believer in fate, they pause. I know what they are thinking, “Ok is Andrew starting to leave this planet?” They are wondering if my belief in fate is spiritual, purely religious, magical, or cosmic. It is all of the above in some form. My belief in fate helps me explain the whys and whats of the world. It rationalizes my being and helps me make sense of the good and bad times that have occurred in my life. Ironically, I stress to my children and others that you need to take control of your destiny and make things happen. However, how you take control and the eventual outcome falls back to my belief in fate.

When I look back at my life and its major events I see fate all over it. When my parents divorced and my father left us when I was 11. My independence and partnership with my mom began. Choosing my first job after college connected me to a co-worker with a close friend is now my wife. Making a large presentation to some investors exposed me to my now partners in business. All of the above will appear to some as random and a stretch to say it was fate. I respect that opinion. However, those opinions will never falter my belief in fate because it was firmly grounded with the adoption of my two daughters from China.

My wife and I were unsuccessful in having children naturally after 3 years of trying. We knew we wanted children and began thinking about adopting from China. We decided we needed to get away to think about our next steps to start a family and headed to the Caribbean. We were being shown to our small bungalow by the owner of an inn in St. Kitts, when the owner said to us, “Welcome. I am sorry I can’t talk too long because I have to get ready to go to China.” Curious I asked, “Business or pleasure?” “Pleasure”, he said. “I am adopting a little girl from China.” Needless to say we didn’t let him leave any time soon and 9 months later Kearney Gouyan Worthington came into our lives. Kearney’s sister Mason Wenshu Worthington joined us two years later. That series of events is why I will never falter from believing in fate.

Most will say that everything I described was based on a previous action and not a matter of fate. Again, I can’t disagree with that argument. However, I will not stop believing in fate because I find it giving me solace when I look at the wonderful things that I have achieved in my life; a great job, my relationship with my mom, my wife Kathleen who is my soul mate and best friend, and my two beautiful children, Kearney & Mason. For those simple reasons I will always be a believer in fate.