Madeleine Zabel

Happenstance Destinies Madeleine Zabel

Happenstance Destinies is a book about the destinies we end up following guided by what appears to be the happenstance of events we experience along the way. The book tracks how these played out in the life of Madeleine J. Zabel, now 93, - a woman of great determination living though widely divergent life circumstances, including experiencing abuse as a child, giving up educational goals for a marriage she was advised against that lasted 69 years, coping with illness and injury, leaving a cushy, social, well traveled lifestyle at mid life, discovering the exciting world of nature in a ten acre retirement property, and embarking on the challenge of maintaining and preserving it for others to enjoy and learn from. The story spans ninety years of her life. It is less an autobiography than it is a matter of fact recounting of the "happenstances" that impacted and shaped her life, and what these experiences reveal to her about our life together in this world. It is full of her insights on humanity and the relationship between humanity and the rest of God's creation, gleaned from a life of many significant experiences, both joyful and distressing. It reflects her pride in her family. It also contains a detailed description of the wide array of flora and fauna she and her husband found themselves in the midst of in "Lively Acres".