I was waiting for the bus and my book was boring me so I just sort of looked around the world. And I suddenly remembered that when I was small, my mother would let me ride in the car by standing between her seat and the door. And my brother would stand between the seats of the car.
One day we had an accident and my brother and I both happened to be properly in our seats, belted in. I remember my mom saying ‘We were lucky you two were belted in. No more standing up in the car.’
Not only was it weird that I suddenly remembered that for no reason, but it got me to thinking about choices and the possibility of the multi-verse.
The multi-verse theory is that for every decision you make, a new universe is created. So in another universe, I was standing up next to my mother when that accident occurred and I was injured. In another, I was standing up next to my mother when that accident occurred and I died. And so on, for all the millions of permutations of possibility.
And not just choices that we make. But the possibility of things beyond our control. In some other universe I could be about 7 years older, as maybe my mother conceived right away, rather than after trying for years. Maybe the hole in my brother’s heart killed him and I’m an only child.
Or, the most frightening to me of all, maybe I have never met Simon. And am alone.