To ask what was your 'sliding doors' moment?

[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...

*It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing”

What a sad little comment @ScissorsBike. I’m sorry for you that you’ve never met anyone so significant yourself. It’s clearly made you quite bitter.

My life couldn’t be further from the 50s. But all the other major things that have occurred such as my career, my accomplishments, my house, where I’ve lived etc have happened with me being very deliberate and in control of where I was heading. I’d add in my children to that but no doubt you think having children is a sign of being a repressed 1950s housewife and have a good old sneer at that too

I insisted we drive into town to change my library book. I was seven. Mum crashed the car and I broke my neck.

Recuperating afterwards (ovrr many months and not at home), I fell in love with a singer on some records played by an aunt's terrifying mother. I learnt the language as best as I could- secondary schoool, university. Flew overseas at the age of twenty but could not get a working visa for that country, so went to another- where I met DH. Who despises my dream country and especially that beloved singer of mine. Cunt.

I think I must be on the wrong side of those sliding doors! Been divorced 24 years, met a few guys but never anyone to be serious about. Had a couple of fabulous jobs but now the oldest office junior ever with only 4 years to retirement. No retirement fund so I’ll be a pretty poor pensioner.
However I have three wonderful adult children all happily married and seven amazing grandchildren and a handful of fabulous friends. I can pretty much please myself most of the time and am content with my lot.
I love this thread though and reading all the stories!

If I hadn't met my DB to see a film, I would never have gone on to his friend's works do - not mentioned by DB beforehand - and then I wouldn't have met my later, and now sadly late, DH.

The attraction was instant.

Now I think of it, I still have the two-tone purple suit (sounds horrendous but looked hot as) he was wearing, in the wardrobe.

Happy days.

Missed my grades in my a-levels & didnt get into my first choice uni.

At the one I did go to I met my fab DH, made lovely friends, travelled, and got a great job at the end of it. With hindsight that uni & its location was a much better match for what I needed at that time.

Mine was about 10 years ago. I was looking for a new flat share as the one that I was in wasn't working out. I had narrowed my choices down to 2, one in the town centre and one about 5 miles out but close to work.

In the end, I chose the one closer to work as the bathroom was amazing and my new flat mate was rarely in because he worked away during the week. Glad I did as my now husband was my flat mates best friend and if it wasn't for me choosing that flat, I would have never met him.

It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing”

I love my DH. Together we have discovered & shared fantastic hobbies, great holidays, had wonderful times with friends and produced 2 of the most brilliant kids in the world. I couldn't give a damn about whether it's like the 1950s. He is my partner in life so yes he is pretty central to it.

@ScissorsBike

It's grim how many of these are about "meeting DH". This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing.

Oh, have a day off. Have you seen Sliding Doors? It’s a romantic drama about how a chance meeting affects the protagonist’s relationships in two parallel existences. Of course that’s going to influence posters’ responses.

It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing

But the question was 'have you ever had a sliding door moment?' not 'what's your greatest achievement?'

Meeting your life partner is probably the most significant thing that will happen in your life especially if it leads to having a family and a happy marriage. Not ‘grim’ at all.

@ScissorsBike

It's grim how many of these are about "meeting DH". This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing.

I'm going to start a thread today asking if anyone has ever had a Die Hard moment, but you have to promise not to get cross when most of the posts are anecdotes about defeating a German terrorist on Christmas Eve while wearing a white vest.

It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing”

Who pissed in your cornflakes?

I went for an interview in a flatshare. ( I found it on a flat share website, so random strangers like to meet you first.)

It turned out to be a great room in a lovely flat. It was an area I’d always wanted to live in and I could just about afford it. Two of the random people seemed really nice, a friendly woman and a very laid back man. The only issue was the third one, a bloke, who I thought was really antagonistic in his questions.

I went back to the friend I was staying with and said I wasn’t sure I could stand living with this person. But I knew my friend needed her room back, so I decided not to overthink it, put my worries aside, accepted the room and moved in.

Yes, I married the antagonistic flat mate. We still live together with our DC. Turns out he was just socially awkward. He nearly put me off, though!

I was feeling particularly low. My mental state was quite bad. I was a single Mum and struggling with respecting myself. My friend begged me to go for a drink with her whilst my Dd was at her dads, to just get me out of the house. I really didn't want to. To shut her up I said yes. I met my partner. Nothing happened but there was an instant attraction. I held him at arms length for a long time. He never gave up on me, he taught me to love myself

Right now, 8 years later he is currently brushing our youngest daughter's hair and I am content. I haven't been in a bad mental state since.

If we want a non-DH one: I signed up with a temp agency straight out of university. First job lasted a few weeks, second job I got sent to an organisation I’d never heard of. Turned out to be my dream job. I stayed there years, had the best time and made lifelong friends.

Many years ago I was waiting for my bf in a pub. This absolutely gorgeous Australian bloke started chatting to me. I had to politely decline due to said bf.

Things with bf didnt work out, and sometimes I think about the life I should have in Australia with gorgeous Australian man

I was working in London and applied for a job in another city. I got the job and was antagonising over whether to take it as it meant moving & leaving my then boyfriend and friends. My boyfriend and I were lying in a field on a summers evening after a romantic picnic and he said “take it, you wont regret it”. He was 14 years older than me and was genuinely a nice person. I think he saw that it was right for me even if it didn’t include him. I took the job, moved there and while we didn’t last, I did meet my DP on the first day of my new job and 15 years later we now have 2 DS etc. Mostly thanks to an old boyfriend!

If i wasn't poached for a job in my ex boyfriends city (we had been split up a few months when someone approached me at work) and subsequently bumped into him a few months after moving there we wouldn't now be married with 2 kids

More of the sliding doors. If I hadn't had a moment to spare, I wouldn't have clicked on this thread and seen such a fucking mean-spirited post.

It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing

When the solicitor on my first flat purchase said “ don't worry we can sort that out after you’ve moved in” and I hesitated. Then said go ahead. Needless to say it couldn’t be sorted, I lost thousands and in the process met and married the wrong man and was unhappily married for nearly 20years.

Thank god I had two fab kids as a result though.

I have not RTFT, but I have a few of these, the most obvious being:

Whe we were in our early twenties me and my XH sat in a pub in Ladbroke Grove in London and flipped a coin to answer whether we stayed in the UK or went to live in Canada (had career opportunties in both places). UK was the answer.

It’s grim how many of these are about “meeting DH”. This could be from the 50's. Have you nothing more significant happening in your lives? It's genuinely embarrassing
Well no one is going to mistake you for a beam of sunshine are they!
Blimey!

I had a boyfriend of 11 years. Then I met someone else who swept me off my feet, so I dumped the boyfriend (thinking that was the right and decent thing to do). The new guy lasted approx 6 weeks before he dumped me. I moved on and eventually married DH and had DC. I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t thrown myself at the new guy. I’d probably have married the boyfriend and who knows where I’d be.

I remember that bus crash being on the news. I was a guide leader myself at the time plus I'm a Glaswegian though I wasn't living in glasgow at that time. Horrific for everyone, and yes that bloody walkers ad was ridiculous! Not just because of this crash there have been other similar ones and it was so stupid and offensive they really ought to have known better

I have way too many - but then that makes sense as I'm not exactly young!

Passing by the love of my life's door without knocking when I was back in his home town on a visit to old friends, as I thought he was in another relationship but I discovered after I married ex that he'd been single at that time. We were first together when very young and both families disapproved of the others family (basically snobbery) then circumstances meant I moved about 200 miles away when we were under a lot of pressure from the families to break up and the break up came to pass though neither of us really wanted it - hugely regret this

Being at the traffic lighted cross roads I was at when a twat on his phone hit me! If I'd been there a few mins earlier or later he may have hit someone else but it wouldn't have been me. Left me disabled physically and triggered (though wasn't the main cause) or nervous breakdown. 15 years later I'm in pain all day every day physically and mentally.

If I'd had my ectopic pregnancy in a different time and place, I'd likely not have had the great surgeon I got who kept the tube intact - which may have meant I wasn't able to have dd.

@KitKat1985 A friend of mine slept in that fateful 7/7/2005 day when the bombings happened - his alarm clock didn't work yet worked every time before and after - he would normally have been on one of the trains

@BellatrixLestat - I was working in the wedding industry around the same point, I arranged weddings for several couples who met online but told friends/family they met in a pub or at a concert etc I think people forget it used to be considered really dodgy, but I and others I'm sure with similar experiences - especially in the wedding industry - were saying to single friends to go for it as we knew and had met people who'd met that way

My ex in laws met in the old fashioned "old" way - lonely hearts ads! They've been married over 50 years now. That's also 4 kids and 14 grandkids that wouldn't exist if they hadn't taken that chance.

@picklecustard Great quote there and so true

@ScrapThatThen Conversely there will be couples meeting who wouldn't have were it not for covid effects - changing jobs etc

my heart goes out to all involved or narrowly escaped tragedies

I was living in Central London and happily dating on Tinder. Living the life of a busy single woman, always out having fun and partying. I had VERY strict rules about only dating within a few miles of where I lived and worked, so I had this criteria set up on my profile. I had no access to anyone who lived outside of this uncompromising radius and vice versa.

Matched with an extremely handsome man who also came across really well, articulate and funny. Tinder told me he was 3 miles away. Perfect.

Except, he was attending a conference. Home was MILES away, in the rural countryside. WAY out of my stringent criteria. He was a London hating country boy.

We are now blissfully married, living the quiet rural life

We would have never have met in the 'real world'. DH hates London and couldn't wait to get out of there that fateful day.

Moral of the story, don't disregard guys who don't fit your criteria, they may be perfect for you!