People Share The Tiny Choices That Completely Altered Their Lives
Warning: This post contains descriptions of murder, violence, and fatal accidents.
In this recent story, I wrote about how decisions — big and small — changed the course of people's lives. Their stories resonated with readers, who wrote in about their own experiences with fate. I was shook reading through their letters! From finding true love to split-second life-or-death decisions and more, here's what people shared:
Additional responses were found here.
1. "Years ago, I was on my way to the airport, and between traffic and the detours, I was much later than I wanted to be. I got to the airport in the nick of time but was denied boarding as PSA had released my seat to standby. They promised to get me on the next flight. I sat in the bar, pissed off, nursing a beer. That plane was involved in a mid-air collision with a light plane, and everyone involved was killed. I was shook for days afterward."
Dushlik / Getty Images
—Anonymous
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2. "When I was in my 30s, I had a cat named Bob Dylan. One morning he came into my room and got on my bed and peed right in front of me while looking me in the eye. When I jumped up and grabbed the comforter to take to the laundry room, I thought I smelled gas. I called the plumber, and when he came, he found a major gas leak so severe the gas company had to shut down the meter for fear the house would blow up. Bob Dylan saved my life, and he never peed on the bed again."
—Anonymous
3. "When I was 27, I went to a football game with my dad. I had horrible back and stomach pains and had trouble going to the bathroom. I told my dad I was going home to rest, but he insisted I stay at his house that night. The next morning I had a fever and the pain was worse. My dad took me to urgent care. I was going through diabetic ketoacidosis (I didn’t even know I had diabetes at the time) and had to be rushed to the hospital. The nurse at urgent care, who was actually really mean, as I was vomiting uncontrollably, overruled the doctor who was going to send me to a small regional hospital and instead sent me to the largest emergency hospital. I was intubated and put into a medically induced coma for 8 days. It was touch-and-go for a few days, but I made it through. Sleeping at my dad’s, along with the actions he and that nurse took, saved my life."
Goodboy Picture Company / Getty Images
—Anonymous
4. "When I was 20, I was a model and had worked all over the U.S. and Europe. I got offered a booking in Argentina for double my rate. I took the job, but from the beginning everything felt off. At the shoot, the photographer didn’t seem to be that good or creative, and the vibe was weird. It turned out the gig was a ruse to get me there with nine other girls and introduce us to a guy who wanted to book us for some high-paid shoots in the Middle East. That felt even more off, and all but two of us were creeped out and turned it down. After a lot of arguing, we were dumped at the airport and left to find our way home. About a year or so later, the guy was arrested and convicted of human trafficking. None of us ever found out what became of the two who took him up on his offer."
—Anonymous
5. "I was getting ready to leave my house one day. I had everything I needed in my hands to leave: my phone, my keys, and my purse. I always had a bad habit of not using the restroom before I left, so I decided to go before I got on the road. I went back to the kitchen island where I thought I left my things. My phone was there, but my keys and my purse were not. I went back through the living room, found my purse sitting on the chair, but for the life of me, I could not find my keys. It took me an extra 10 minutes to find my keys. They were in the bathroom, but I had looked there five times. Then I heard this big BOOM that shook my whole neighborhood. About 3 minutes from my house, at a major traffic light, a major accident involving two 18-wheelers and two cars occurred. There were a couple of fatalities."
Westend61 / Getty Images
"I’m not sure if the universe hid those keys from me because, looking at the wreck, if I had left at that exact moment that I was supposed to, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been involved, and who knows where I’d be today. Either severely injured or not here at all!"
—Anonymous
6. "I was in sixth grade, and school had just started. My grandmother asked me to stop by the local fish store on my way home to pick up fish food for her aquarium. Instead, I went with my friends to the corner store for an ice pop. The next morning, my grandmother told me to come straight home from school because a girl from a nearby private school was reported missing. She said we would be driving to the fish store. She waited outside in the car while I went in to get the fish food, and then we went home. A few days later, the missing girl’s body was found in some underbrush in a neighboring area. She had been beaten to death. Not long after, they arrested the guy from the fish store. He was the owner’s son, and a bloody mattress and hammer had been found in the basement."
"He died in prison 50 years later.
A few years ago, a book was written, inspired by this story and that of another local murder involving a Black woman, contrasting how society and the media treat the disappearances of Black women and that of this young white girl. It was later made into a TV miniseries."
—Anonymous
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7. "My almost 73-year-old husband just posted about the day in college in 1971 when he drew a high draft lottery number. Some friends in the same dorm weren't as lucky."
Emdot Inc / Getty Images
—jannar2
8. "I moved to the West Coast to be with a boyfriend. The relationship didn’t work out, but I got away from a toxic town and friends, and I never went back! Moving so far away really helped me grow. 30 years later, I’m amazed at the different and exciting things I’ve been able to do with my life. Thank god I left. It opened up a new world to me."
—Anonymous
9. "I was in a long-term relationship that was fairly bad — all because I wouldn’t commit — and was turning into the kind of man I would tell my sons to avoid becoming: a total jerk toward women. One night, I was at the club dancing, looking for a pickup, and this gorgeous lady held out her hand after a song ended and led me back to her table. We’ve been holding hands ever since. We’ve been together 15 years and married for 11. When you find that special person who’ll be there to your last breath, thick or thin, rain or shine, and knows your every fault, it’s bliss; and you never know when or how you’ll meet."
—Anonymous
10. "In early high school, a teacher asked me to join the math team. I was an okay student but not the best. For some reason, I enjoyed it and became competitive. By the end of high school, I was at the top of the team and won the regional competition. I got a fully paid scholarship to university and, after that, a job at a top hedge fund. I’m 52 years old now."
RgStudio / Getty Images
—Nearing_retirement
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11. "I hadn’t had my kids in the same house in a decade. They live a thousand miles away, but came to visit when my daughter had my grandchild. Of course, I had my husband take pics of me with the kids and grandchild. When I saw the pictures, I was shocked at how big I looked. After everyone left, I weighed myself. I’m 5’3 and was 275 pounds and had no idea how big I was or how hard I was being on my body. Two years after that day, I dropped to 160 pounds, and I’ve maintained the weight with some fluctuation between 160 and 169. Just one happy day changed my life."
—mjh8212
12. "My husband and I were packed and nearly ready to leave town for the weekend for a wedding. My final task was putting his suit and the dress shirt I had just ironed into the garment bag. When I went to grab the dress shirt I had hung on the closet door handle, I found my daughter’s dog, Reggie, lifting his leg and peeing on it. I was sooo angry! I got another shirt out of the closet, but thought I’d better wash out the peed-upon shirt before we left town. I went down to the basement laundry room, and when I opened the door, I found flames shooting out all around the bottom of the hot water heater! The pilot light had broken. If dear old Reggie hadn’t peed on that shirt, I’m sure our house would have burned that weekend!"
Mykhailo Shorokhov / Getty Images
—Anonymous
13. "I was on holiday in Ko Samui, Thailand. My friends and I planned to go to the full moon party and then head over to Koh Phi Phi the next day. The full moon party was moved forward one day because of the queen's birthday. All my friends wanted to skip it and go over to Koh Phi, but I put my foot down and made them all stay. The morning after the full moon party, I went to a travel agent to buy tickets, only to find out that Koh Phi Phi had been completely wiped out by a tsunami. We were just backpackers, and we would have been staying in a beachside bungalow. We definitely would have died that morning."
—Anonymous
14. "My husband was supposed to be having a meeting in the second tower at 11 a.m. But that morning, he decided the day was too beautiful to waste, so he came home, picked me and our 9-month-old up, and we went to a park in New Jersey with another friend who had a baby the same age. Just a normal day at a park that 100% saved his life. There are SO many stories like this if you live in the area. I’d been to that building countless times until the baby was born. It was so surreal afterward that we moved to a different part of the country."
Jean Suplicy / Getty Images
—kestrel
15. "I was offered tickets to the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, but declined because I wasn't into country music like that. It ended up being one of the worst (if not the worst) mass-casualty events in US history."
—52CardPUA
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16. "I had just gotten home, and the second I opened my door, I felt instantly sick. Like the flu, a migraine, and COVID all at once. I powered through, eating my takeout (despite feeling like death, I was not going to waste a steak), but told myself I could go right to bed after. Just as I was getting up to sleep, a little voice told me to bring the rest of my groceries up. They were non-perishable and would have been fine in my car, but I decided to get them. Coming back upstairs, I was eye level with my stove and realized that a gas knob was on. I mistakenly bumped it the day prior while doing the dishes, and there was a gas leak all night and for most of the day. If I hadn't gone to get my groceries, I would have died in my sleep."
—monikap6
17. "A roof fire over my condo might have saved my life. In the mid-'80s, I was scheduled to travel from Phoenix, where I lived, to Fort Lauderdale, where I was considering moving. The trip was to last a week, and I had a reservation to fly from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale via Dallas/Fort Worth. The day before I was to leave, lightning caused a fire on the roof of my condo. Of course, I was forced to postpone my flight, which may well have saved my life. The return flight I was booked on encountered a severe thunderstorm and microburst on final approach that caused the plane to lose control and crash short of the runway."
Hanna Taniukevich / Getty Images
"A few lucky passengers managed to walk away, but most passengers and crew were injured, and about a third were killed.
Had I gone on that trip and on that return flight, I might have been killed myself. The fire possibly saved my life."
—Anonymous
18. "I was supposed to go out with a friend of mine one night, but when he came to pick me up, the song 'Bad Moon Rising' by Creedence Clearwater Revival was playing on his radio. I got bad vibes. I decided not to go, and he was killed in a head-on collision later that night. Trust your gut instinct, I guess."
—Anonymous
19. And lastly, "I was about 22 years old, working at a shipping company in Manhattan. I was invited to have lunch at a hot dog stand by my supervisor, but I declined because I brought my lunch and didn’t like my supervisor. Midway through lunch, I saw several other workers yelling and running towards the hot dog stand. I learned later that a car pulled up, and a guy got out and shot my supervisor dead. Glad I brought my lunch that day."
—Anonymous
Have you ever made a decision that changed the course of your life? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can fill out the form below!
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Source: Crime
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