Status Updates From Fatherland

First lines | "It was almost surreal, he thought, looking out over the whole group, all of them smiling, happy, none of them knowing. He’d even been part of the wedding party, one of the ushers for his brother-in-law, who wouldn’t, he figured, be speaking to him in the morning."

"luck and accidents driving one's fate"
Looking back on my own youth, I think this all the time. I'm here only by luck and accidents. It all could have turned out so differently. Doesn't everyone think that about their youth?