The Road Not Taken

Do you ever think about this? The road not taken? Do you ever wonder how different your life would be today if you had made this choice instead of that choice?

Now let me emphasize right up front that I am not unhappy with the choices I have made. I adore my husband, and am incredibly happy we chose each other. I am very content, so this isn't about any dissatisfaction on my part, or any longing for a different life. This is simply...curiosity.

So indulge me why I help kill the cat.

Last week on Facebook, an old college friend of mine had wished his wife a "happy birthday." I had met her once or twice back in the day, and commented on his post as follows, "I don't know if she remembers me, but pass on my birthday wishes." A day or two later, I received a message from him saying that she remembered me well...she thought I was the girl he was going to run off with.

Really? Really? I mean I don't exactly want to be remembered as the tart who she thought was going to steal her boyfriend, but even more troubling was that I never had a clue. I was actually way more into his roommate at the time, and I never noticed him...at least not like that.

But this whole weird Facebook exchange got me thinking. What if? What if I had known this back then? Would I have stolen him away? Would we have ended up together? What would my life be like today? Would I have two daughters and live in Texas, or would we have ended up in New Jersey...Alaska...Montana...with four boys and two cats? The options are endless.

The strangest part, I think, is that having been oblivious to this possibility, I had never entertained this notion before, so it caught me quite by surprise. Not only was this a road I never took, but a road I never even considered.

When I think back on the boys I actually dated...the roads I did consider, I don't really wonder too much. There is little curiosity about them, because it isn't hard to imagine what my life might have become if I'd gone that direction. I guess because I started down that path once, and then consciously chose another. The old adage "been there done that" comes to mind.

But this one is a pure mystery. Since I never even saw the road, I have no idea what it could have been. It is...interesting, and kind of fun to wonder about in a weird hmmmm kind of way.

Still, I'll never be sorry I chose the road I am on. It is a beautiful road, and I love it.