My Mom died when I was 4 of brain cancer, My Father when I was 15 of lung cancer. My older brother (12 years my senior) blinded himself while on drugs and my older sister (11 years older) married an asshole, whom she would later divorce. I am now married, am a successful business owner and have 5 awesome kids. I was talking to my wife who I met when I was 18 and we realized that had any of the sad events I listed above not happened, there is almost no way we could have met. Call it what you like, fate, dumb luck, destiny, but having some faith in yourself, and never giving up can take you to a very happy place.