Time split

There's a pretty good movie, starring Gwynth Paltrow, called Sliding Doors. (1998). The movie is basically an exploration of how a person's life can diverge into two parallel streams, just by a difference in a single, minor choice (in the movie, it was whether she caught a subway or had to take the next one).

Being (mostly) an optimist, I've always held the view that our lives are made of complex twists and turns, and that it's hard for us to judge -- from our very limited perspective -- whether a ''good'' or ''bad'' event is truly that. Not get hired for a job? It may've sucked. Not get accepted by the university of your choice? If you'd attended, you would've met a very different spouse than the one you ended up meeting in college.

On a grimmer level: yes, it's annoying to lock the door, get to the car, and then realize that you left something inside. But, maybe that two-minute difference means you **didn't** cross paths with that errant semi-trailer, that you otherwise would have.

Who can say?


Today, The Lady and I took separate cars. She needed my help with an errand -- after which, I'd go in to work and she'd run additional errands.

At the last minute, I decided I'd wear a different pair of shoes. So, she went on ahead, while I went back to the bedroom to change my shoes. Then, on my way outside, I decided I should empty the small rubbish bin that we keep on the porch -- so I took it around back to the garbage can.

When I returned to the front yard, I noticed there was a pickup truck parked there. Turns out the soil-testing folks (we need a soil test for the detached garage we want to build) had arrived, and the guy was knocking on my door. If I hadn't changed my shoes... if I hadn't decided to empty the rubbish bin... I would've missed them.

Not crucial to have met up with them, as I'd shown them the proposed building site already. But still, good to touch base with them.


Interesting, though: a matter of minutes.


--GG