I called the elevator in my building this evening and both arrived simultaneously.

I had a choice. The choice was simple: one or the other — 50/50. Neither had anything out of the ordinary that would push me one way or the other.

I went left.

Here I am.

Had I chosen the one on the right, there’s a strong chance that nothing would have changed, and I’d be here writing exactly the same words.

But there’s another chance that things would be different. The elevator could have gotten stuck, or another person could have called it down to the parkade which would have delayed my arrival. Someone could have gotten on that had something interesting to say, perhaps they needed help with something serious.

Anything could have been different, changing the course of my evening ever so subtly but wildly in the long term.

Or maybe the smooth, expected ride I took has set me on a path that the other choice wouldn’t have.

I’ll never know.

I love thinking about choice and how each moment affects my path. It’s even more exciting when there were two seemingly identical paths to choose, yet the outcome could have been infinitely different.