Sliding doors

It’s interesting watching all the people at my company freak out that they may lose their jobs. I swear I can hear the resumes being typed up all the way from Ohio. I’m pretty lackadaisical about the whole thing. I went thru this 5 years ago and that’s how I ended up in Cincinnati for two years, eight months and some change. It actually was a good thing I think. I moved, got myself out of debt and realized things about myself I’m not so sure I would have learned as quickly as I did if I hadn’t gone. I also got two awesome dogs and then had the sheer joy of moving BACK to Philly. Wow, there is no better high, really.

I’m a big fan of the movie Sliding Doors. Rent it if you haven’t seen it, really. Or e-mail me and I’ll mail you my copy to borrow. In it, Gwyneth Paltrow’s character’s life is shown in two parallel stories all starting from if she catches the London tube or if she doors slide shut and she misses that one train. I love thinking about things like that. I would never have met train guy one year ago this Friday if he hadn’t, for once, tried to catch the 5:06 train home. We also would never have started talking if the train lines hadn’t gone down and we would never have met if I hadn’t stopped to go to the bathroom at work before racing to catch the train.

Of course we all know every minute of every day is a sliding doors moment. Would I have met Train Guy if I hadn’t moved to Cincinnati, gotten two dogs, hated the city, moved back to Philly and bought a house because the dogs needed a yard and so therefore needed to take the train to work? How about if my company kept me working in our New Jersey office and not given me the opportunity to work in the Philly office?

I love thinking about the chain of events that go into motion with every single phone call we make, street that we cross and random trip to the bathroom we run to. Needless to say, my company’s sale could seriously alter lots of peoples’ lives. I just wish that all those people who are worried (understandably so if you’re supporting a family, have a mortgage, are breathing, etc.) would think about all the positive things that could come about and use that positive energy to make things happen. Instead I see people miserable and scared and panicking and all I can help but think is that it just can’t be a good thing. Be positive, you probably won’t lose your job and you were hired by an excellent company because you are good. There will be a lot of other companies that will feel the same way.

And really, you never know who you'll meet or the new opportunities that await you. It could be great. I mean look at me, in that post I wrote I couldn't think of Train Guy "like that" and we all know I've been thinking about him "like that" for a good ten months now. Oh who the hell am I kidding, I was thinking about him "like that" the minute he got in line behind me.