to and away

i am slowly making my way through the time traveler's wife. it is enjoyable, albeit, slow. last night i came to part 2, which began, as many books tend to do, with a quote:

"what is it? my dear?"
"ah, how can we bear it?"
"bear what?"
"this. for so short a time. how can we sleep this time away?"
"we can be quiet together, and pretend -since it is only the beginning- that we have all the time in the world."
"and every day we shall have less. and then none."
"would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"
"no. this is where i have always been coming to. since my time began. and when i go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. but now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere."

-a.s. byatt, possession

this quote made me wonder... is there a destined mid-point in life that we live to get to and then live from, letting it define us? do we allow events to become those points, or do we choose the point?

i could easily allow my divorce to be that point that i lived up to and then lived from. i could allow michael to be the point i lived up to and then from... i could even let tt define my life, and that would make sense; i'm finally, truly happy. it is what i thought of when i first read the quote.

but i believe that life is destined to have many stops and points along its path, shaping and defining who we are.

so i believe my path continues, with its hills and valleys, and destined points along the way where, at every point, the path always leads to and eventually away. i just have someone new to walk with.