Page 15 | To ask what was your 'sliding doors' moment?

QuentinWinters · 18/11/2020 11:37

gloria
More likely you would've died too, so it would have been even more of a tragedy for your mum

Mixedupworld · 18/11/2020 12:42

Aged 19, I went rock climbing like I had done almost every weekend since I was 14. Group of fellow climbers I was with decided they didn't want to climb the bit I wanted to, they said it was too easy. It was fairly easy and I nearly carried on further up to where the others wanted to climb. I decided I'd do the easy climb with no harness as it looked easy and would be quicker so I could catch up with the others.

I fell and became paralysed from waist down.

However, I don't really regret it as if I hadn't become paralysed I would never have met the fabulous group of fellow wheelchair users who are my absolute best friends. If I'd not become paralysed I'd probably be married with kids now which I desperately want (kids anyway) and be leading a completely different life.

YankeeDad · 18/11/2020 12:46

@Fairyicecream

For those that haven't seen the film Sliding Doors, it basically showed how different her life turned out if she caught the train/didn't catch the train.

What was one decision, one moment that could have changed your whole life?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. A few years ago my marriage went through a bad patch (understatement to say the least). DH talked about leaving. It was the worst time of my life and I honestly don't know how I got through it.

Anyway, i often wonder, what if I had just told him to go? We would now all be living separately and we and our beautiful DC would have a completely different life.

Instead, we are all now happier than we have ever been. But it could have all been so different with that one decision...

Would you recommend the film?

[misses point]

AlexisIsMySpiritAnimal · 18/11/2020 12:51

Would you recommend the film?

Haven't seen it in years but I remember enjoying it, I'll have to see if it's on any of my streaming apps!

CheetasOnFajitas · 18/11/2020 13:00

@AlexisIsMySpiritAnimal

Would you recommend the film?

Haven't seen it in years but I remember enjoying it, I'll have to see if it's on any of my streaming apps!

Yes it’s great. There is an iconic scene where she gets her hair cut short and dyed blonde (so you know which is her in the “caught the train” life and which is the “missed the train” life). Her English accent was OK too. John Hannah was a nice choice for the love interest, not too cliched.

BikeRunSki · 18/11/2020 15:36

I’d recommend the film. It’s a good story and a little but thought provoking.

queenbee72 · 18/11/2020 16:01

Further to comments about the film - I’m currently reading Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library which is all about this. What would my life be like if I’d done this instead of that. Really enjoying it so far so well worth a read.

Ddot · 18/11/2020 16:03

If you get chance watch, an inspector calls. It's all about what and how we treat people affects others. One little thoughtless act can snowball. It's very thought provoking

peaceanddove · 18/11/2020 16:41

Just thought of another. 3 years into a relationship with an abusive, older bloke and he'd talked me out of going to university despite being very academic. He intended me to leave college, get a dead end, Civil Service job in the same department he worked in (so he could watch my every move) and then rent a shitty, cheap flat and live a bland, mediocre life as his little wifey. I was just sleep walking into this awful, dreary future with him.

He'd booked for us to go to Amsterdam for the weekend, he was meant to pick me up from college and we'd drive to Felixstowe to catch the ferry. I didn't want to go. Suddenly I had an epiphany and decided that I didn't want the mediocre life he'd planned for us. It was like a huge spotlight was switched on in my head. I rang his office from college, told him it was over and I wouldn't go to Amsterdam. Firstly, he was livid and threatening, then he ended up crying down the phone. He later turned up at college and tried to find me, and had to be escorted off the premises by staff.

That weekend I hooked up with the gorgeous bloke in my drama class and had a fantastic time I spent the next 2 years with him and he turned my life around and encouraged me to apply to university. Okay, so he broke my heart when he ended our relationship but it was through being broken hearted that my friend insisted I go clubbing, and I met my now DH

I love my life with DH. We have travelled all over the world and shared some amazing experiences. Our life has always been colourful and passionate and never, ever, ever mediocre [shudders]

sicklycolleague · 18/11/2020 17:43

Not me (obviously) but my grandad's uncle was part of an orchestra that was due to play on a brand new ship. The orchestra all got flu and couldn't go, so another orchestra went in their place. The ship was the Titanic.

BitOfFun · 18/11/2020 18:28

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

Maybe I am a little bit cynical but there are few genuine moments like this ....sure the person that overslept and missed that fateful flight on 9/11 ....but the romance ones ....surely you'd meet someone anyway at another time and place and then THAT would be your sliding door moment ?

I think you're probably right. Many of these posts are essentially just anecdotes rather than Sliding Doors moments.

@GloriaDays and @Mixedupworld, yours definitely fit the brief! I'm really sorry that you both went through that trauma .

Ddot · 18/11/2020 19:22

Visiting my brother in law who had taken Ill and had been in hospital for a few days. I missed the bus so caught the next, it meant I would only catch visiting time for 15min but I decided to go ahead. As I entered his room he already had a visitor. Yep you guessed it, cheating MF

AlexisIsMySpiritAnimal · 18/11/2020 19:40

Sliding Doors is not on Netflix or NowTv but it is only 99p to rent on Prime 👍🏼

Mixedupworld · 18/11/2020 19:47

@Ddot

Visiting my brother in law who had taken Ill and had been in hospital for a few days. I missed the bus so caught the next, it meant I would only catch visiting time for 15min but I decided to go ahead. As I entered his room he already had a visitor. Yep you guessed it, cheating MF

What is MF?

BitOfFun · 18/11/2020 19:49

@Ddot

Visiting my brother in law who had taken Ill and had been in hospital for a few days. I missed the bus so caught the next, it meant I would only catch visiting time for 15min but I decided to go ahead. As I entered his room he already had a visitor. Yep you guessed it, cheating MF

If you'd arrived earlier, surely the visitor would either still be there, or would have arrived while you were there?

RaspberryCola · 18/11/2020 19:55

Opening an email in my spam folder.

It was an advert from a jobsite, for my actual job. Had no idea I was in the firing line. Got my ducks in a row and applied for somewhere else, eventually led to a transfer 200 miles away, career took off, met husband, kids etc.

ClareBlue · 18/11/2020 20:05

With our son in Sofia on holiday just the two of us. We booked the overnight train to Istanbul for the Saturday night but changed it to Sunday night because when on Honeymoon 16 years earlier we visited Istanbul on a Sunday and Grande Bizarre was closed. Son wanted to see it so we changed booking to arrive Monday. The Saturday train crashed. I don't, but if you Google train crash Turkey 2018 July, you can see why it was a life defining moment.

shinynewapple2020 · 18/11/2020 20:09

What kind of books do you write @LegoPirateMonkey ?
I wonder if I've read any !

JoanWilderbeast · 18/11/2020 20:15

Just wanted to say what a great idea for a thread this was . FWIW I've always thought the premise would make a great drama series.

BwanaMakubwa · 18/11/2020 20:15

I was in sixth form, had a firm uni place studying a subject I was good at but not passionate about. Had arranged to do some revision with my friend one break time. My friend was late arriving at the common room. An UCAS book was open on the table and I idly picked it up and read the page that it had been left open at. It was a psychology course description.

I had a flash that this was what I wanted to do, withdrew from my uni place, took a year off and reapplied for that course. 30 years later I have made my whole career in psychology and it's all because my friend was 5 mins late for our revision session in 1987.

shinynewapple2020 · 18/11/2020 20:52

You had a lucky escape there then @NotanotherboxofFrogs

Ddot · 18/11/2020 20:57

BitofFun
Yes but he obviously thought nobody else was coming, she was a work colleague so had a good reason to be there. I walked in to see her by his bedside not looking like a work friend. I knew at a glance

Ddot · 18/11/2020 20:59

Mixedupwirld
MF mother fuc*er

Oliversmumsarmy · 18/11/2020 20:59

Maybe I am a little bit cynical but there are few genuine moments like this ....sure the person that overslept and missed that fateful flight on 9/11 ....but the romance ones ....surely you'd meet someone anyway at another time and place and then THAT would be your sliding door moment

I always remember the helicopter crash in London when a helicopter flew into a crane on a foggy morning and remember that not just one but both the crane operators over slept that day.
As for the romance ones. I have known a
couple of sets of people who have met later in life and when they have gone back over events they have found that they share so much history and just missed each other by minutes or seconds. Eg one couple had both kept the ticket for a particular concert they went to in 1979 and found they had been there on the same night and they were only a stood a few metres apart. They had gone to the same uni and lived 1 street apart and then both had moved to the same area of the country at one point and for a couple of months again lived close by each other but had never crossed paths.

It was like fate was trying to push them together but kept failing.

Kayakinggirl · 18/11/2020 21:06

I always think there are set points/ people we are meant to meet in our lives. That even if we miss that moment somehow we will end up in that place or meet that person.

After uni I had 2 job interviews on the same day (job A and B). I turned A down due to location. Did not get job B, after months of job hunting (all around the world) I got a job at the place next to job A. If I had just gone to that interview first would I have saved myself so much agro.

My other moment like this over 10+ a friend tried to set me up with her friend; I refused. 2 years ago was in a bar in Beijing hear someone talking in my home town accent, start talking to him hit it of straight away. Turns out is the same guy friend tried to set me up with. Maybe 10 years late but she was right he was perfect for me.