Who?

I love the TV show; "Who do you think you Are?"   This week's episode featured Alan Carr and this was by far, my favourite episode of the series.  Alan was charming, funny and entertaining as you can imagine.  His story was, very much like mine in that he'd failed to get any further back than grandparents prior to filming so, many... many questions sat there, lazily waiting to be answered. 

Through the course of the programme, the narrator mentioned that in World War I, over half of the troops were wounded or killed in action and this got me thinking.

My Grandad, on Mum's side is James Williams.  He was wounded in France and shipped home to convalesce in hospital for 12 months, at the opposite end of the county to my Nanna, and to live with the physical legacy of the "Great War," for the rest of his life. 

He came home.  Jimmy, came home.  If he'd been killed in action, 12 people so far, would never have been born, and that includes my Mum, and her offspring which, of course, includes yours truly.

Isn't that amazing?  My cousin, who's like a sister and close friend all rolled into one, well, she would have had a sister-in-law and almost, a daughter in law, and that's it in that department, no me, none of my sisters.

There have been many times when I've had an, "It's a Wonderful Life," moment and wondered what if I'd never arrived, but this, simple statistic, really made me think.  Going to war was and remains, some, warped game of roulette.  Red.  Black.  Live.  Die.  What will be, I guess, will be.  It's meant to be.

I hope that I never stop being amazed, I love life, and it's twists and turns... they never fail to amaze me.