Have you had a Sliding Doors moment in your life?

[slidingdoorsmoments]

Sliding Doors is quite an old film now, but I think most people know what this phrase means. For those that don't know the film, a woman comes home early, to find her partner with another woman. This is the catalyst for her to leave him, and live alternative life with someone else. A life that would never existed, had she not discovered her Partner cheating.

I think I've had a few of these moments in my life. The biggest ones being :

My friend telling me that my husband was cheating on me : I left him and now I am married to someone else.

Me sitting down one night, with a glass of wine, and looking at houses on Right Move, that were by the sea : saw a house, loved it, showed DH, viewed it the next day (only 40 mins away) and bought it. Had no intentions of moving until we saw the house. Now been here 11 years and still in love with it. Made lots of friends here and it's a lovely little town.

I'm sure life is filled with lots of mini sliding doors moments, but these two really stand out for me as big ones, because if my friend had never had the courage to tell me that my first H was cheating, I would never have left him, and I would never have met my lovely DH. And, if I hadn't been idly scrolling on Right Move that night, we would probably still be living at our old house.

Not an AIBU, posted here for traffic.

.... when I went for interview, and raining at Uni B. The MSc became a PhD, where I met the person who is now DH of 24 years.... turns out Uni A was particularly involved in a field I have found fascinating, and built into a career of nearly 30 years. It's not something Uni B was interested in.

Who knows.

The whole point of sliding doors was that she didnt know what the alternative reality was.

Nor do we

Had I not logged on that internet dating site, had the Saturday night date not had a 'headache' and I asked my now husband to meet me that night instead. I wouldn't have the house I live in I would probably have had a child but not my precious daughter another precious child but not the same I wouldn't have the memories we share. I wouldn't have the job I have as I don't think I'd have known about it (my husband mentioned a niche role was available at work and they couldn't fill it and I hated my current place of work so took a plunge and applied just to get out of the job I was in thinking it would be a stepping stone to pay the bills temporarily in a really different industry to what I was employed in which led to other opportunities)

Is not every second, in every day a sliding doors moment?

I have been severely allergic to animal fur and dander my entire life, so haven't had pets - cats in particular could induce an asthma attack within minutes.

When I go round to friends' houses I always dose myself with super strong antihistamines.

I was going to see a friend but at the last minute we changed the venue to her house - and I was already out and about so didn't go home first to get my medication.

I realised 2 weeks later I'd had no reaction to her cats. I went to two cat cafes to test it out and had no reaction at all to any of the cats.

We therefore now have 2 gorgeous rescue cats that are a joy.

Not earth shattering but looking at the cat sleeping on my window sill I am so glad I didn't take the tablet just one time in over 30 years!

Yes a few bad things happened in the space of a couple of weeks/months led to me quitting my job and moving hundreds of miles away very suddenly in the middle of the night. my very new partner chose to come with me that night, we now have a beautiful house and a beautiful baby together. If the bad things never happened I don't know where either of us would be now. Was the worst thing that ever happened to us and the best all at once. I'm actually very grateful that it did. I think about it everyday.

I took a wrong turn looking for the cafe I was supposed to meet my friend in for lunch, and spotted that one of my favourite shops was looking for weekend staff (I was a post-grad student). I applied, got the job, and met my now DH.

I didn't even know that particular shop had a branch in my uni city, so would never have seen the job if I hadn't turned off one street too early.

15 years and two children later, I'm very glad I did!

Yes I think so.

Back in 2020 a couple of months before lockdown, I had an on/off relationship which was coming to the end. He was away for the weekend with his friends and I went out with a friend in London.

We had dinner booked in Covent Garden and having a wine in a nearby pub beforehand. We got up to leave the pub to go for dinner and as we were walking out, 2 men walked in. One of them looked at me and I looked at same time and it was like electricity. We were just staring at each other unable to break our gaze. Its like time stood still. My friend then says ‘come on we’ll be late for our booking’ which broke my stare and i reluctantly went off to eat. We went back to the pub after dinner but they’d gone.

I later found out my partner had gone to a woman’s room that weekend and I ended it with him.

The whole situation lasted less than a minute but something about it has stuck with me as a ‘what if’ for over 4 years now.

I believe that every decision we make is a sliding doors moment, and everything could have a different result. Some more significantly than others.

Last week I popped out to walk DM's dog. Pretty standard, but I dithered and went back in the house 2 or 3 times, which meant that I was walking past a shop at the exact time that someone I hadn't seen for months was leaving it. Got talking, and he ended up doing me a massive favour this week, which has helped me very significantly. If I'd remembered my sunglasses, none of that would have happened.