In Another Life...

Today, I had another of those strange moments that I have from time to time. (For the record, I also had a strange moment while trying to figure out where to put "today" in that first sentence.)

Here's part of it - this is the part we have talked about before: I often find myself wondering what my life would be like if I had made a different decision along the way. So I wonder what my life would be like if I had taken a semester away at a different school in college, or if I hadn't shared an apartment when I lived in Paris.

The other part of it, though, is even a little stranger. You see, I apparently have one of those "You look just like..." faces. At times, I've also been told that some aspect of my personality is just like someone else that the speaker knows. Frankly, I don't usually know how to take that, so I just say things like "He sounds like a great guy," and then let it move on.

But, since this has been going on for at least half of my life (I believe it can be Carbon-dated, but I'm not sure), I have also been known to see other people and think "That would be me if I had done..." or "If I had gone to that other place, I think that's what I'd probably look like..."

Well, I had one of the latter kind of situation today. Except that I didn't really get that not-quite-deja-vu feeling, because I wasn't ever really out-of-body about it. I saw the guy who looked vaguely like me, doing something I could have seen myself doing, and I thought "That's where I'd probably be now if I hadn't taken that other job..."

I know a lot of people who feel kind of remorse or regret for making their choices over time. I think I'm lucky, because I see these other people and I can be happy for myself and my choices and/or happy for the way their lives (aka "my other lives") are turning out.

And, even better, the version of me I saw today had really good shoes - which I may just have to see if I can find somewhere...