Being at a psychiatry conference

The title of this entry could be a straight line: Being at a psychiatry conference is like......
It is like being glad it is now. I had a conversation with someone I have known for MANY years, who I introduced to Julie. He came and asked (after she had left) how many times I had been married now. He thought Julie was my third wife. I told him no, she is my fourth.
I reviewed it for him (since he asked and must have wanted to know...why else would he have asked....). I was married when I was 20 years old for 13 months. I had chosen that as a means to get out of my parents' home. Perhaps I "should have" just moved away, but I didn't. I got married for 13 months, in 1971.
Then, in 1979, I did it again. This time I chose someone upon whom I "couldn't be" dependent. I was right. That ended after 9 months.
Soon after, I met the mother of my first three children. We were together for 13 years, married for 8 of those. In retrospect, I am not entirely surprised it ended and I have already spent enough time speculating on what "might have been". It wasn't.
I met Julie about 8 years ago, at synagogue. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on August 20th (last week). We are planning to celebrate many more "now" moments together, with every indication that it is a strong relationship and strong friendship and strong partnership.
I told my friend that if I had done ANYTHING differently in the past, I wouldn't be me. And my life wouldn't be my life. In fact (although I didn't tell him this) the world wouldn't be the world. Check out Julie's most recent blog entry and my comment there (plantdoc1952.blogspot.com) if you need more "proof" of this interconnectedness.
It is good that the path Julie and I both took lead to now. It is good that we are each happy (more or less) being ourselves, now. And with that, life is Good, now. One now, one breath at a time, filled with Metta (Loving Kindness) for self, for teachers/mentors, for family, for friends, for strangers, for difficult people, for enemies, for all creatures.
Ok, I guess I still have some work to do :-)