[JULIA, spoken]
It was his fault, Ma. He’s here and Michael isn’t and it’s his fault. I want to believe everything happens for a reason, but...

[MRS. ADAMS]
No, no, no.
Everything happens
Just that
Everything happens
An event, or a death,
A catastrophe
Any reason as to why
Is a reason you supply
It just happens
Everything happens

It’s not fate
No great plan
It’s not destiny
Putting faith in that cliche
Gives your own free will away
When things happen
And they will happen

You can waste your whole damn life
Assigning bits of philosophic meaning
To the failures
And misfortunes intervening
And I’ll tell you what you get
Just a lifetime of regret
No, no, no.
There is no reason
For why everything happens
It’s the changing of a season
It’s a fact and it’s a constant
And the only sane response is to adjust
Not to wish it hadn’t happened
When it must

Now the church will tell you one thing
And your friends perhaps another
If I were you I’d listen
To your slightly dotty mother
Who lost out on her own fair share
Of good times and of laughter
Listen, what matters when things happen
Is what happens
After