Maybe In Another Universe, I Deserve You ‘What if, in another universe, I deserve you? Hear me out. There's this philosopher from the 1890s named William James, and he coined this theory about “the multiverse” which suggests that a hypothetical set of multiple universes comprises everything that can possibly exist simultaneously. ‘Are you following? The entirety of space, time, matter and energy is all happening at once in different timelines: It’s the idea of parallel universes. Right? So okay, let's presume the multiverse is real. ‘Well then, maybe somewhere in those infinite universes is one, or several, where I deserve you. ‘Maybe there's a universe out there — happening now — where we end up together and when I ‘ose my eyes at night, I'm not dreaming the way a normal person would. Instead I'm seeing flashes of our lives in the multiverse. They're not simple dreams because } miss you, right? Theyre scientific, anachronistic visions. For instance: In this universe, I don’t want a family, but maybe in another, I'm more of the type to settle down. “Maybe there’s a universe where you fio my hand while T give birth to our daughter in a whifte hospital room with pink flowers and fuzzy teddy bears on the window sill. Where we take family vacations and pose for dorly pictures in our neon bathing suits on the sands of a Florida beach. Where we curl up to watch a cheesy movie at the end of a long day in our big, green, suburban house once the kids have fallen asleep. Maybe there's a universe where we are middle-aged and taking our child to college and bickering over where to put her dresser or what posters she should hang up. Where you kiss her on the forehead ‘goodbye’ and we drive home in contented, proud silence, your fingers grazing my knuckles, our wedding rings glistening, Where we both have gray hair and we laugh and smile and hug amd drink lemonade om the porck, Maybe there's a universe where that’s the life I want. Where I don’t second guess everything and Tm not afraid of commitment and of the future and of love. Maybe there's a universe without all the noise in my head and the pride that makes me so fiercely independent and the coldness in my ‘heart that Fean-turn on and offlike a security fence. Maybe there's a universe where I'm the right person for you. Where I adore every nice thing you did for me without starting to resent you. A universe where you actually end up with someone who appreciates you. Where no one becomes a doormat. Where both of us can shed our baggage and curiosity and issues. A universe where we're happy — without wondering if that happiness is some messed-up Jenga game ready to topple at the slightest quiver. A universe where we're comfortable and sure, and we have cats. ‘Maybe there's a universe where we fall asleep next to each other every night like spoons, like two innocent bunnies — my face buried in your neck, hugging your warmth — and we both don’t want Scanned with CamScanneranything or anybody else. Where we don’t want more, we just want each other. ‘Maybe there's a universe where I don't covet so much all the time and where I'm content and ‘where I don’t wonder about picking up and moving to Japan without saying anything to anyone and where at this very juncture, I can just know I'll always want to come home and cook dinner with you. Ifyou think of it all this way, then it’s like neither of us did anything wrong. You just found me in the wrong universe. That's all. This is, as they say, the darkest timeline. Everywhere else, nay, “everywhen” else — us in the Civil War, us in Ancient Egypt, us in the swingimg 60s — we are happy: If this theory holds, well, by the law of averages, there had to be one universe — just this one — where we don't end up together. Here and now just happens to be it. If you think of it this way, nothing is our fault. So see, that explains everything. We're not together anymore because of the multiverse. Well, isn’t that comforting? Ifyou're sad, do like I do and just think of the other ‘verses. The ones where I believe in love and where I don’t fiate myself and where I never feel tlie need to kamikaze refationships. A unfverse where we can have nice things. Its helpful, right? Because you could have loved me forever. And maybe in another universe, I let you. Scanned with CamScannerThriving 'Mega'-llennials Leave Struggling Millennials Behind There's a millennial divide in the generation of young people that is often stereotyped as entitled, unemployed and more likely to still be living with their parents. The Great Recession and student loan debt created strong challenges for the generation of young people who today are roughly in their mid-20s to late 30s. Many had a hard time finding jobs in their field. Some accepted lower-paying jobs than they were qualified for. Today, those early setbacks continue to impact millions of millennials. However, while many in the generation stagnated professionally, the so-called “mega- lennials” managed to flourish and succeed. “That's the portion of the generation that kept working and creating traction and pulling themselves forward in spite of these really crummy economic times,” says Jason Dorsey, president and lead millennial researcher at the Center for Generational Kinetics. There's a sharp contrast between the mege-llennials and the so-called “me-llennials,” the part of the generation that has struggled to find professional traction and is still working on finding their place in life. “What we think is fascinating is that the group of people that are most offended at work by millennials acting entitled are actually other millennials who do not feel entitled,” Dorsey says. “They think the rest of the generation is giving them a bad reputation.” So why did mega-lennials flourish while other people in their age group floundered? “What we found is they were more resilient oftentimes in their career. That could have been by luck or by intention,” Dorsey says. “They also managed to keep working and building their networks and did whatever they could to keep pushing themselves forward.” While there's no clear definition in terms of one group versus the other, Dorsey says millennials tend to sort themselves into one group or the other. And although they are of the same generation and share many experiences, mega-llennials and me-Iennials don" t tend to see themselves in each other. Scanned with CamScanner