The Road Not Taken... Ever Think About Other Lives You Might Have Had?

I've found myself in a very interesting position lately. CousinBean is getting to that age where one must start thinking about college. He's set on the US, and really seems to want California. In looking at various options, one of the schools that I sent off to for information popped up on the list. I had flirted with the idea of kicking the dust of Alabama of of my heels and hitting sunny California. That was in the days when I still believed the hype about California being warm... nowadays I know better. I'm cold every single time I'm in the state. Don't know what it is about me, but the state of fruits and nuts leaves me cold... literally.

Anyhoo... looking at the information on this particular college got me thinking about how my life would have been different had I ended up there. The school is, in many ways, similar to the small, private liberal-arts college I attended. So, imagining myself there isn't so hard. But it gets you thinking. Clearly, I never would have met El 3atal. I suspect had I gone out to Cali for college, I might not have made it back. After all, cold or not, California is much more diverse than good old Alabama. And, since never quite fit in there (what Southern girl who would move to Jordan would?!), I sense I wouldn't have rushed back.

Would life have been all arts festivals, unique opportunities, days on the beach? I doubt it. But, certainly it would have borne little resemblance to days spent in the Alabama sun, which were, after all, much like all those that had gone before them. It's interesting to wonder how your life would have shaped up differently if you'd only made this decision instead of that one. I think that's why the movie Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow, excellent performance) appeals to me. It chronicles a couple of days in the life of a woman. We see her in the guise of having made each of two critical decisions and what comes out of that. Her life is simply not the same.

Any one else have thoughts of what if?

Happy possibilities!