What If We Never Met

Sometimes, I ruin my own mood by asking strange questions. Today’s edition: What if the people in my life were just strangers?

What if the people in my life were just strangers? What if I had never met them? Instead of knowing their weird habits, listening to their terrible jokes, and witnessing their questionable life choices, what if I just didn't?

Like a random friend. Maybe we met in school, at work, or through mutual suffering in some unfortunate situation. But what if we hadn’t? What if we had just existed in the same place without ever crossing paths?

Would we still be drawn to each other? Or would we be like those people you vaguely recognize but can’t place, the ones you see just often enough to wonder, “Where do I know them from?”

Maybe in this version of life, we’d pass each other on the street or we’d sit in the same room, both pretending not to exist. We'd probably reach for the same can of milk at the supermarket, have a polite little “Oh, sorry, you go ahead” moment, and then forget about it forever.

What if we hated each other? What if, in some cruel twist of fate, I become that one person they found really annoying? Instead of laughing at my jokes, what if they rolled their eyes? What if they started complaining about me to their best friend, just like we complain about random people together now?

The idea that the people in my life could have just as easily been strangers is unsettling. Makes me kind of wonder how much of it is fate and how much is just luck. Maybe the universe does have a plan, but it’s not as specific as we think.

It's probably determined to make sure we meet certain people no matter what, like that overbearing friend who keeps setting you up with the same person in different ways, hoping something would click. Maybe we’re supposed to meet the same people, just under different circumstances.

If fate is real, does it keep rolling the dice until we finally cross paths? Maybe in one version of my life, I meet someone at my workplace. In another, we sit next to each other in the church. And in another, we both reach for the same bag of chips at the store, share an awkward laugh, and then, Boom!—we form a lifelong relationship

It’s strange to think that the same person could play so many different roles in my life, depending on when and how we meet. Just like a shuffled deck of cards with same pieces but different outcomes.

And what if it goes deeper than that? What if the circumstances of me meeting that wicked person in my life were different, and they turned out to be kind, warm, someone I actually liked? What if timing, place, or state of mind is all it takes to flip a villain into a friend?

If the universe does have a plan, maybe it’s not about making sure we always get the same version of people in our lives. Maybe it just keeps throwing them at us in different ways, letting the details play out however they will. Maybe we get a hundred different chances, and each one leads to a different story.

The real question is, How many chances have already passed me by? How many times have I unknowingly walked past someone who was supposed to mean something to me, just in a different life, under different circumstances?

I guess I’ll never know.