What significant event changed your life unexpectedly? Something you never imagined, or...?

lost oxygen at birth for "unknown reasons" after a full-term, uncomplicated "normal" pregnancy. He never developed at a normal rate and had many emergency hospital visits throughout his young life. I did everything right, didn’t smoke, drink or abuse drugs. Took my prenatal vitamins as directed and went to prenatal classes with his dad.

He’s 23 years now, still in diapers, nonverbal, has no fine motor skills and his comprehension seems old school but is suggested by doctors that he is severely retarded, with a toddler’s comprehension. He has no idea what reading or writing is and has never entertained himself with toys. He can’t groom himself, dress himself or take care of any of his needs.

He’s recently been diagnosed with renal failure but has been stabilized with kidney medication and a low phosphorus diet. All his chromosomes have been normal and he never had a clear diagnosis.

While surfing the internet last year, I discovered his diagnosis -- hypotonic cerebral palsy (and epilepsy).

Nothing like this had ever happened in my family before -- when I prayed to God for a healthy baby with 10 fingers and 10 toes, I forgot to even think about asking for a "normal" baby as well.

This experience of raising Alex has taught me so much -- humility, selflessness, patience, tolerance, compassion and a wealth of other temperaments. I’ve always found it frustrating dealing with ignorant and indifferent relatives and other people who stare and judge, telling us through the years that we should stick him away somewhere and concentrate on our other 2 kids. But I say -- how DARE you think that he doesn’t deserve the same rights and to be treated with the same respect "normal" people receive.

He is still my shining star and I am very involved in his life as his conservator and most of all, his mother who gives he and his siblings unconditional love and acceptance, something I never received from my own parents, but I'm more mature than they'll ever be and thankful that I didn't turn out like Alex with parents like mine.

I read Atlas Shrugged.

It profoundly changed my understanding of man & God.

Ayn Rand convinced me Religion was a lie.

The destruction of my faith moved me into the vague desolation of nihilism.

As a fluke of the Universe rather than a child of God, I reckoned my life to be meaningless.

One day I realized if my life was meaningless, so was my depression.

So I might as well enjoy myself.

As I pondered Evolution I realized Life was a competition.

And that meaning is created by the desire to win that competition.

Isn't that silly?

So many trying to find the meaning of Life,

when it is Life that creates meaning.

Then one day I realized that Everyone believes an eternal unchanging Logic runs the Universe & created man.

Atheists call it Natural Law.

The Ancient Greeks called it the Logos.

And Christians say the Logos is God. (John 1:1)

You see God is the notion that the Logos is alive & intelligent.

Religions make many claims regards what this Intelligence expects of us.

Believers personify the Logos.

Atheists take the opposite course.

While admitting the Logos compels the creation of life & intelligence,

They absolutely hold it possesses neither of these qualities.

I suspect the truth is somewhere in between.

But now I know what I am & why I am here.

Religion is not a lie, it's a metaphor.

I am a manifestation of the Logos or if you will the creation of God.

I am here to win the Darwinian challenge.

My life is a drop of water in a pond.

My soul is the ripple that spreads out.

I am here to create a soul that endures forever.

Life indeed surprises us. But that is the nature of a good game.

The world is full of problems & we are problem solvers.

Which means the perfection of Life lies within its imperfection.

Lucky us.

I got pregnant.me and my boyfriend got I'm a huge fight after we had sex. Broke up. A month later found out I was pregnant. Then w resolved the fight and not engaged. The input way I coped with it was too think where I am going to be in ten years. Take a bath and relax. And stop arguing over stupid stuff. At the time I broke up with my boyfriend because he invited my dad over for a beer. Everything is fine now. But normally to cope with things you can exercise, see a therapst, talk to a friend, sometimes you just need time alone and cry. Or screen in a pillow. Whatever helps you. Now that I'm pregnant I get stressed out really easily. I go dot a walk outside come hope and take a long bath.normally helps. But being pregnant and engaged changed everything, it changed all my life goals. And im not sure if it is for the good for bad yet. Time will tell. What's that saying when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Or just their them back.ha Good luck.

*22 weeks*

An unexpected pregnancy, a divorce, a child getting pregnant, an illness: you're telling my life's story. You left out losing a child, being broke, and getting shot.

One morning, after 12 years, my wife woke me up and said that she had married the wrong guy. Goodbye. Shortly after that I got fired from a 9 year job that I liked. Shortly after that my dad dropped dead. Literally. So I'm thinking, "What else can happen?" I think what kept me going was that I decided I wasn't going to be a bad example to my kids. They were slammed too. They needed me to be strong when I didn't want to be strong.

My last attempted suicide forever changed my life. If I thought my life was hell before, I had no idea I would live to see the next day, let alone the truly humbling events that followed.

Besides this, I had a near-death experience during this time, that let me know in no uncertain terms this life was not my life to take. And, this experience also gave me the will to 'live'.

It took many painful years before I could hold my head up again, living one day at a time. I have learned to appreciate everything in life, good and not so good, and not take anything or anyone for granted

I would have never experienced the fulfillment of true happiness, love and peace in life if I had succeeded. :D

Peace and Blessings

Yuvly; I like your answer! I have learned this too, the hard way.

well that "something unexpected" has been the most aweful mistake i never thought i'd commit!

i always thought i was mature enough to deal with things but it was not the case,i was actually living in a world of complete illusion! i would always think "it wont happen to me,it happens to others"

At first i could not cope with it at all,i would be depressed thinking about that one big mistake,but you've got to move on in life and no matter how big the mistake might be,if you ruminate over the past you will miss out the essence of life,that is enjoying every second of your life!

do things that make me forget or rather keep myself busy are just the things i do to camouflage the sorrow within!

Your past is like your shadow and it wont leave you but the only thing to do is to confront it!

Regret is one thing that eats you up....I'v learnt a lesson but i cant promise not to make anymore mistake..at least not to myself!

However,if things turned out well i would surely not have labeled that "something unexpected" as a mistake...that's the mystery of life..you dont know what can be the consequences to your acts.

I have gone through mid-life crisis; it was like a near-death experience.

http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/isdivorcethesol...

I am research engineer - I turned into a philosopher.

Wow @ Doctor P... I feel like I'm going through something similar.

...although I am not at mid-life quite yet.

I in my stupidity and major innocence listened to my mother and signed for them to get married! We had known him for almost a year, but he turned out to be an alcoholic abuser! My daughter gave birth to the child 16 weeks early and it lived only 3 weeks, but they were still together, living with my mother. My daughter got pregnant again within a few months and still professed her love for him. My mother upheld him too. He would forge checks and sign my mother’s name and my daughter had to go out anf chase him down to find him and bring home when she was heavily pregnant. I couldn’t stop anything, she was 18 then. After the baby was born, I reported them to Dept. of Social Services for violence (they fought all the time) but DSS came out and told them to clean their house and that was it!

Then, I found out my mother had Alzheimer’s and I took over Power of Attorney! I moved her into my house and sold her house. My daughter was beginning to understand that she could not do anything for him and after 5 years, she filed for divorce the cheapest way she could and got one within about three months. She was granted custodial rights to my granddaughter with him getting full visitation rights because she did not bring up his drinking and drugs. But he has seen very little of their daughter, his major goal being to get to my daughter, but she is through with him and has moved on. It broke my heart when my granddaughter would ask where her daddy was and why he did not come to see her!

For a long time I cared for him too and tried to talk to him, I was a teacher and counseled students alot for 30 years, but I finally got to be afraid of him too and told him not to call any more.

This whole situation tore my family apart. My daughter became such a hard cynical person and I felt so guilty because I signed the paper for her to get married! But although there are lasting effects, we are all mending now, but none of us will ever be the same! My daughter had to drop out of school, but she went back and finished and is now training to be a Vet Tech. She is also with a good man who is being a "father" to her daughter and to the one that will be born to them soon. Her demeaner has changed also. She is hopeful again and has her future planned and is not willing to let much of anything get in the way!

The think we work up on will change our life permanently. any thing else can ly make temp changes