When I bounced the idea of an accidental life off Jim Browne, my financial manager with a keen understanding of the human condition, he said that all of us benefit from serendipity, from the accidental life. (We in fact met by happy accident.) He added that my life was and is typical, or perhaps a tad off the norm. Surely he's correct in that we all benefit from fortuitous events, but I think he's incorrect in that such events in my life are typical or normal. I feel quite strongly, and without a scintilla of evidence, that I outrank most other people in both number and impact of life-changing events, or, perhaps, I am just more aware of them. I'm betting that you'll agree after you read about the many accidental happenings that shaped my life and, by extension, my writings. Enjoy and, I hope, relate.