Life brings most of us to thoughtful crooked paths of wonder. It leads the thoughtful person on a path of many windings. We live our lives forward but often understand them better when we view them in retrospect. This is true of Sam's story. The twists and turns of our journey often feel out of our control. Yet, we are always left with making a choice about how we are going to respond or react to them. In essence, this is what determines the shape of the crooked path. There probably isn't anyone who manages to have a life with a straight path. The journey is much more complex for most people. We never know what the impact of our journey will be as others cross our path. Parts of the crooked path are our most treasured pieces and others are parts we wish had never happened. All of these pieces come together to form each person's unique crooked path. As people travel their journey, different things become more important than others depending on when and where they are on the path. Childhood issues are much different than end of life issues. All of it goes into forming the crooked path. We must own it all. Probably the most important piece of the journey over which we have control is our ability to respond to the events on ourcrooked path. We can't change the event, but we can choose how to respond. This fact can change lives. It changed Sam's.