the parable of lightning mcqueen

if you happen to not have a boy between the ages of 0 and... i don't know... 12? or you happen to think that subjecting your child to disney movies is of the devil or you've just never seen CARS, i'm sorry if i lose you here. just bear with me. or don't. your choice. whatever.
since i do have a son in the appropriate age range and since disney movies often save me my sanity, i have seen CARS approximately 5 bazillion times and know the darn thing backwards and forwards, word for word.
the other day i noticed myself doing something silly. there i stood folding laundry while o sat in the next room chillin with lightning mcqueen. i was rehearsing the movie line by line in my head (don't ask me why) when it got to the first turning point of the movie. one minute rascal flatts is singing 'life is a highway' and next thing you know some stupid show-off cars pull up next to mac and one thing leads to another and mcqueen ends up abandoned on a freeway in the middle of nowhere facing the wrong way!!! i found myself thinking - 'if those dumb cars would'a minded their own business,' and 'silly mac should have pulled over to rest,' and other alternatives that would have prevented lightning from ending up in radiator springs. stay with me. there's a point, i promise.
i'm pretty sure i'd thought these things every time i'd seen/heard/been in the presence of this movie, but the other day it hit me how dumb i am. duh. first of all, if mac had gotten his rest or if those ridiculous flashy cars had left him alone, the movie would've lasted about 15 minutes and would've been pretty lame. second, if lightning would not have ended up where he did, he wouldn't have met his best car friend, his car girlfriend, his car mentor, etc - AND he would not have learned that he was a cocky little booger and that there are more important things in life than winning.
why am i re-hashing this, you ask?
i am so prone to look at my life and wish it were something it is not. i tend to think 'if only we were done with school,' 'if only i didn't live in the snow,' 'if only such and such unpleasant event hadn't happened in my life,' etc. really though, how am i to know that all of those things, hard as they may be, are not the source of eventual blessings and happy-ever-afters? i can not see the end of my movie right now, but i am sure that those turning points are there for my benefit. at one point, being 25 and single seemed like a curse - but would i trade those feelings in and sacrifice finding someone who fits me so perfectly? and would i give up my precious boy to have been able to get pregnant easily and exactly according to MY time frame? heck-to-the-no. and although i can't really tell what is going to happen in the end and what crazy twists and turns my life will take (which hopefully will not include paving a road and going tractor tipping,) it all works out in the end. it always does! and that, my friends is the parable of lightning mcqueen. aren't you glad i shared?