WHAT IF By Gloria G. Barsamian

“Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein, the problem is not how you remember but how to control the flow.” — Tobias Wolff

What if I hadn't called on St. Anthony every time I lost my keys, my phone, or even my mind for that matter? My house would probably be a Bermuda Triangle of missing items, where socks and remotes vanish into the ether, never to be seen again.

And what if I skipped over St. Francis when my neighbor’s cat went MIA or when a black bird with a limp showed up on my doorstep? My backyard might look like an audition for Animal Planet, with me coaxing critters with pizza crusts.

Let’s not even talk about St. Teresa of Avila—without her, I might’ve mistaken a castle for a cow while reading Interior Castle. (And don’t get me started on the book The Body Keeps the Score—oh, it does.)

But let’s go bigger...

What if Columbus hadn’t gotten lost?

There might be no pizza in America. No Sunday sauce. No sacred meatball debates or al dente victories. No cheesy garlic bread to fight over, and no “pizza night” to save us from the blandness of life. Without Columbus’ wrong turn, we’d be chewing noodles with no sauce, and probably using chopsticks to eat porridge while wondering what pepperoni is.

Worse yet—without him, there might be no chaotic Sunday dinners, no family battles over who makes the best sauce, and certainly no joy in accidentally cooking for twelve when you meant to feed six.

So here’s to the saints who help us find our way…

And to the sailor who didn’t.

Because without them we’d be lost in more ways than one—and probably hungry too.

“Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I've taken for granted.” — Sylvia Plath

From my forthcoming memoir: The Labyrinth Within.

A book of stories, soul, and second chances. Stay tuned.