Wonderful story (the multiple happy endings helped) very well told. These quotes from Richard Bach's "One" come to mind:

“Wrong turns are as important as right turns. More important sometimes.”
“Bad things are not the worst things that can happen to us. NOTHING is the worst thing that can happen to us.”
“There’s no disaster that can’t become a blessing, and no blessing that can’t become a disaster.”
“Don’t spend twenty years living your life by default when you can decide right now to go in the direction of your love. What do you really want?”

That was a simple copy paste as they're all lined up at the end of this story of mine: https://medium.com/hope-healing-and-humour/imagine-your-future-without-changing-anything-about-your-past-634bb61e7045