The Brand New TV Show That Nearly Caused My Divorce

Last night was the premiere of what was supposed to be a super cool TV show called "Ordinary Joe."

And in case you're wondering…no…I won't have any spoilers here.

When I first saw the previews, I was intrigued. I mean, who wouldn't be? It's about this fella named Joe who is faced with seeing life in three ways. But look, I can't explain it as well as IMDB, so here's how they describe the show:

"Life is all about the choices one makes - and sometimes, what one does in a single moment can change everything. Joe Kimbreau faces one of these decisions at his college graduation, leading to three parallel stories that diverge from that night. Each path finds Joe with a different career - as a nurse, a police officer, or a rock star - along with different friendships, relationships, and family lives, showing the unexpected ways things change - and stay the same. But when it comes down to it, there is no "right" choice; no matter what happens, Joe's life is always messy, exciting, tough, unpredictable - and beautiful."

The show came on last night, and I almost forgot about it, but then my wife reminded me. She even came in and switched the channel to NBC about ten seconds after it had started. Guess she made the call for us both.

So we plopped down on the couch and let the show wash over us.

I have to share that when I see programs that make me emotional, I have this innate desire to stand up and move close to the TV. Not sure why I do it, I always have. Perhaps it's to bring me closer to the plasma screen and in some weird way, the characters, but nonetheless, I was standing next to the TV in the first five minutes.

In fact, I was glued to it.

You see, I realized that Joe is all of us.

Joe is you, and Joe is me. He's your neighbor, and he's your sister. Joe is your spouse, and Joe is even the future version of your children when they come to that fork in life.

And come to it, they will.

The fork that poet Robert Frost described so eloquently.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth…"

Robert Frost

Robert nailed it wonderfully in his poem, but he left us all hanging. He left us all wondering…what if I had taken that other fork? But I suppose that's what a great poet or writer does…right?

And I'm confident that that is the reason why not only is "Ordinary Joe" so incredible, but it's also the reason why my wife asked me if we'd made the right decision.

You know, to have gotten married.

Seriously. She asked me that. But in fairness, it was my tears that prompted her to ask. What she was really saying asking was if I had made the right decision.

I was momentarily taken aback, truth be told.

So she asked me again. "Rick, did you make the right decision in marrying me? Have you become an 'Ordinary Ricky' as a result of us being here at this exact moment?" What she meant to ask is if my life has been just 'ordinary' now that this show has shined a light on the other paths - the paths of what might have been.

But she misunderstood my tears.

You see tears come for a variety of reasons and a variety of causations. And last night, as I stood there glued to the screen, I realized my life was anything but ordinary. While I frankly have never considered any "what if" scenarios, last night, I briefly did.

But only for a split second.

Because then, I realized that in the deepest parts of my heart and soul, I had taken the path that I was always destined to take.

I like to think that Robert Frost wrote his poem and made us all think. He made us all wonder. And then this TV show "Ordinary Joe" comes on, and it shows us the lives we may have had if we could have chosen each of the paths Frost describes.

But there was a third option that neither Frost nor the TV show mention. 

He was Nicholas Sparks, author of 'The Notebook.' He wrote about two souls who actually took those diverging paths only to realize, years later, that they'd chosen wrong. So when their paths converge again many years later, they live a long, fruitful, loving life together, literally till death did they part.

Yeah…Nicholas Sparks.

'The Notebook.'

The road you take is the right one.

"…I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - 

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." 

Robert Frost

No regrets.

No retreats.

No reserves.

Now go watch "Ordinary Joe."