Last spring, I met two wonderful guys at approximately the same time. One was a mortgage entrepreneur/surf enthusiast who made me laugh, challenged me intellectually, and sat through my romantic comedy addiction on several occasions (i.e. rented Reality Bites with me when I KNOW he was dying for a Die Hard marathon). The other was a law student/musician who also made me laugh, challenged me intellectually, and most importantly, gave me that elusive feeling of giddiness. The latter was clearly the more dangerous of the two….the one that would most likely result in a less-than-stellar ending of sorts. And I knew that going in.
At some point, I had to make a decision. Seeing two people at once has never felt right to me, so I opted to do a “fade out” with mortgage guy/surfer. I think he was fairly upset about it, but I never came back around to find out. Instead, I dove headfirst into what would turn out to be an extremely short-lived affair with law student.
Although I have no regrets, sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I had gone for the safer, smarter choice and stuck with mortgager/surfer. Would I be in a “serious relationship” right now? And if so, how would that have affected other elements of my life (i.e. career, friendships, etc.)? It’s funny to think about—a single, seemingly innocuous choice can have the greatest impact on your life.
I’m not going to lie—sometimes I think about looking the surfer up and seeing what he’s been up to. But then I think: I’m so incredibly happy with where my life is right now…and maybe, just maybe, things would be completely different had I made the alternate decision. And then I know I did the right thing.
Have you ever had a “sliding doors” moment?
