If my original MIDI workstation were not stolen back in 1998, I would probably still have all that equipment.
If I still had that equipment, I probably would have been disinclined to write any new music. I had already reached the realization I could never produce the kind of music in my head because my tools were insufficient.
If I did not write any new music, I probably would have forged ahead in a career as a web developer, and I probably could have eventually forgotten what it’s like to write music.
If I forgot what it was like to write music, I don’t know how would have ended up.
If my original MIDI workstation were not stolen back in 1998, I would not have bought newer, better equipment.
If I did not buy better, newer equipment, I would not have created music that’s closer to my imagination than previously possible.
If I did not create music closer to my imagination, I would not have developed a belief that I’m producing some pretty good stuff. Nobody else really has to believe it, but I do.
If my original MIDI workstation were not stolen back in 1998, I would not be spending time on my eBay trying to hunt down the same model keyboard that was stolen.
If I were not spending time on eBay, I would not experience the crushing defeat of being outbid.
If I were not outbid, I would stop hoping someone would post that same model keyboard for immediate purchase.
If I were not waiting for someone to sell that same keyboard, I would be wishing someone else would make software emulation of that keyboard.
If I were not trying to hunt down that keyboard, I would stop wishing the burglary had never happened.
But it did happen. And good things came from it. And bad things still come from it.
At some point, I’m going to have to let go of the past, and find a way to make the songs which rely on that old piece of equipment to live with new parts.
If my original MIDI workstation were not stolen back in 1998, too many possibilities could have happened. Or not.