Different timelines and alternate realities.

I was watching the latest episode of Legion, the one where they posit that every decision you make creates a different timeline in an alternate universe, and it got me to thinking. If I’d stuck with the original plan we made when we started house hunting, what would that reality look like?

I would’ve stopped going out as much and concentrated on projects around the house instead. Around Halloween would be the time time we told our families (but no one else, not yet) that we were expecting. Our first Thanksgiving and/or Christmas in the new house would’ve been celebrated with visits from one or both of our families. New Year’s Eve at The Corner Bar would be the last time we celebrated that holiday outside of the house for a number of years. I would’ve stopped going out completely after that, unless it was a date night or a show we both really wanted to see. The basement flood wouldn’t have been a disaster, but a challenge we tackled as a team. All our credit cards would be paid off and we'd have a really healthy nest egg. I’d be at my goal weight even as she got bigger and bigger. I would've stopped smoking. And right now I’d be a dad and sleep deprived and probably cranky, and we'd both be getting on each other's nerves because she'd be getting even less sleep, but our house would be a true home.

But would I be happy? Is that the life I wanted? Even as difficult a time this is for me, would that be the path I was meant for?

I’ll never know. All I can know is that the life I’m living now is the one I’m stuck with, so I have to make the best of it because this is the timeline I’m in.

But that episode of Legion? It really did make me think…