If You Had Taken The Other Fork In The Road
 

Looking back, is there a point in your life where the fork of the road that you did not take would have led you somewhere completely different? When and where was it? Do you ever think about how things would have been different?

Can be career, personal, location, whatever.

Edit: this thread isn't about regrets, unless you want it to be.

"When you see a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra.

In 2000 when I was graduating from engineering school, I got a job as a fuel cell stack designer. There were 2 recruiters from an online book company that were quite aggressively recruiting me at our engineering golf tournament, wanting me to move to Seattle…

I guess, I could’ve gone to work for Jeff Bezos pretty early on…

I did really well in my decisions,

I am on my 3rd water-cooled Porsche with 5 air-cooled Porsche cars.

Mark me down as a winner in life and love.

Great under rated move exploring the subject, “Mr, Nobody.” One of my favorites.

I wonder often what would have happened if I stayed in MN where my wife had a great job….. no divorce maybe, who knows.

I always picked the dang spoon instead! No regrets really ... the soup has always been pretty good ....

Until you get to the fork in the road ...


When you get to the Slauson Cutoff
Get out of your car
and cutoff your Slauson

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^^^^ LOL .... never seen that JC clip before....

Instant Harpoon Tang in a jar :)

I can't say what would have happened, but I regret not challenging the Air Force doctors decision that got me an Honorable Medical Discharge.

I should have contacted my congressman instead of just accepting that decision. IDK if I would have been successful but I regret not trying.

Trading in my 1982 911SC for a 4-door sedan purchase is one of the very few decisions I now regret.

I don't regret any but things could have been way different. I see my old college buddies now after we decided to change employers and went in different directions.

Its been a heck of a ride and I count myself as blessed and lucky.

I am seeing these decisions now being made by my kids. Oldest one made an informed tough decision which I applaud.

An entrepreneurial opportunity vs the stability of a corporate gig. I took the safe route. Shouldn’t have.

The big fork in my road was when I decided to leave my job as a rocket scientist and start a publishing company. Owning my own company gave me a lot of freedom to travel and I've seen and experienced things I never would have if I'd stayed in the lab from 7:30 to 4:30 50 weeks a year.

Thinking about it today I wonder - with my penchant for entrepreneurship - what kind of side projects I would have taken on if I had stayed in engineering and how much bigger my nest egg might be today.

16 - homeless runaway high school drop out.
17 - joined the navy for 3 year active duty stint
20 - left navy with $13.67 in the bank
21 - worked full time and started night school
31 - BSME
36 - PE
38 - MSIE
50 - could retire and still live about the same lifestyle
54 / now - wondering when I should retire

So I would say I made some REALLY good decisions along the way.
Very few regrets; mostly selling cars I wish I had back.
Lots of folks can get to where I am, but very few had to start from where I did.

What if someone better came along? I really thought that before I proposed to my wife. So very glad I chose her. Is my life perfect? Nope, but I truly believe it’s better than I deserve.

3 days after I turned 18, I left court on probation vs up to 11 years on drug charges. Decided my current path was errant. Enrolled in the local community college for the next semester, spent 2 years there and transferred to Southern Illinois. Great move as I met my now wife there and picked up rugby for the next 23 years. Also led to a great career in the aerospace industry and financial security.
Pretty much know where the other path led and watched, in dismay, as several friends travelled that route.

Grateful does not begin to describe my choice and the great attorney who had my conviction disappear after completing probation. Truly a life changing experience.

Got to the point after 30 years of wrenching that I wanted to get away from the physically taxing work. Took an occupational aptitude test and analytical, logical, problem solving was off the scale (to the point of being a problem according to them)! One thing they recommended was computer help desk kind of thing. I got A+ certified and was hanging out with the IT guy at my wife’s office in my spare time, learning from him. About that time, the dealership changed hands and asked that I stay on as shop foreman. A raise and far less physical; 12 more years and still got to do what I enjoyed and didn’t have to take a big pay cut to start over. Probably would not have retired as well either. Thank you, Lord!

For sure. I was hired for my first job while sitting in a classroom in high school. He whispered in my ear if I want a job, come see him after school, and he handed me a business card. I worked for him for 5 years and when I told him I had to have at least 12,000 per year salary he refused. I gave him two weeks notice on the spot.

I was in Montgomery, AL and started looking at a map, and trying to figure out where to move. I thought about Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Oklahoma City. I chose OKC first only because my grandparents lived there, and I knew I could stay at their house until I found a job and an apartment. So the first weekend of unemployment I drove 900 miles to OKC, I picked up the phone book (remember those) and looked for photo business. The first place I went hired me, so I was hired on Monday morning and ended my unemployment. I went looking for an apartment and found a real gem, no I mean a dump, for $90 per month. I went to all the utilities, stood in line, and got those turned on and paid all the deposits for a first time customer.

I had to drive back to Montgomery, gather my stuff, get back to OKC, get moved into my dumpy apartment, and ready to go to work on Monday morning. I started there at 12,500 per month $57,867.33 in 2023 money and worked there for 27 years until digital photography killed silver halide photos.

So yea, the fork in the road was telling a cheapskate I needed a raise, and him refusing. Then the decision to come to OKC was the easy one. I was sure I could go hang out at my grandparents house on Sunday, and use their washer dryer to do my laundry and grandma would ask if I might be able to stay for Sunday lunch. That was a 1 millisecond decision. Granny's cooking beat the heck out of my cooking. Soon I was mowing their lawn, and used their garage for routine maintenance on my 914.