Wrong place at the right time, or vice versa

We are in La Jolla this weekend to watch Centennial play in the La Jolla volleyball tournament. The boys played well last night winning two of their games and losing 1. I never played volleyball growing up, it was deemed a girls sport. Kathy played and is still pretty good. If I had grown up in California maybe it would have been more of a cool thing for guys to have played and I would have had something more in common with Kathy. But if I had grown up in California and played beach or High school volleyball, I would not have been in Las Vegas, I would have missed meeting her in the Gateway ward, we never would have gotten married, and we wouldn't have had Jeff to go watch. This is one scenario, another is that I could have married a cute blond beach volleyball pro,Kathy could have met a charming (but not as handsome as me) 6'10" Center from the B.Y.U men's volleyball team, moved to Arizona, and maybe my short kid that plays Libero would be playing her 7'2" outside hitter for the tournament championship later this afternoon, and we would probably not have even noticed each other. It is funny how life works out, and a little freaky to realize that one little change in timing can alter your life. Here is a story that I was reading from the assosciated press this morning.

VASSAR, Mich.—A former police officer suffered a heart attack and died at a Michigan gas station where he saved his future wife's life nearly 15 years ago
Lynne Smith tells The Saginaw News she and James Smith were returning home from breakfast on Monday when their pickup truck started to veer off course.
Lynne Smith looked at her 66-year-old husband and knew something was wrong. She scrambled to take control and piloted the vehicle through some bushes. It came to rest in the parking lot of the service station.
In 1994, James Smith acted quickly to save the then-Lynne Butterfield's life when her estranged husband slashed her throat at the same station.
Said his widow: "He saved my life here and now his life ended here." His funeral is set for Friday afternoon.

Now if this does not freak you out or give you goose bumps, you might be reading this too early in the day. Maybe my brain is wired different than most, because when I read this I don't think how lucky this guys was to have responded to this ladies call where they met, and eventually led to marriage. I wonder if this guy would have lived longer if he had not met her. What if he had met a vegetarian vegan lady instead, and had lived off of tofu and rice cakes for the past 15 years, keeping him in such great shape that he would have lived another 15 years?
Maybe my thinking is backwards. Maybe he would have married the Vegetarian Vegan lady, that kept him healthy and alive, but she was a complete nutcase and he lived for the 30 years in complete boredom and was miserable agony. Instead he met this lady, they fell madly in love, ate sausage and hamburgers every day, went basejumping from El Capitain in Yosemite National Park, living the fullest, happies 15 years of their lives.
Who knows what answer is best for any of us when fate is involved. I know that I can't imagine any scenario that I would rather have than to the one that I experience now. I can't imagine not having Kathy or the kids around. What would it be like to not have Jake with his sense of humor, Jeff with his wide range of talents, Tim with his ornery morning personality, but cool smile, or Mandy that will still occasionally let me go shopping with her. Maybe next time I am running 15 minutes and 8 secons late I will be a little less angry that I couldn't find my keys and am stuck in traffic. Maybe I should be a little bit more aware and grateful that the car that caused the traffic jam 15 minutes and 8 seconds earlier in the day didn't belong to me.