The Ripple Effect of Birthdays
How Every Choice Led to This Moment
Yesterday was my birthday, and I’ve been thinking about quantum entanglement—not just because it’s central to my Maddie and Nate series, but because birthdays themselves are a kind of entanglement phenomenon. I’ve mentioned my fascination with quantum entanglement before. That mind-bending phenomenon where particles remain mysteriously connected across vast distances. When you measure one particle, you instantly know something about its entangled partner, no matter how far apart they are.
I’ve always found this concept romantic—which is why I made it the foundation of my novels about soulmates who are “quantum entangled, destined to connect across every reality.” But yesterday, as I reflected on blowing out the candles once again, I realized birthdays have their own kind of mysterious connection. Every birthday I’ve ever celebrated has somehow influenced this one through the choices I made in each year, the paths I took, the dreams I pursued or abandoned.
The Birthday Multiverse
As I’ve explored in my Maddie and Nate series, the multiverse theory suggests that every possible reality is happening simultaneously; we just happen to be observing this one. Which means that right now, in countless parallel universes, different versions of me are celebrating this same birthday; the same age, but with diverse life experiences, having made different choices along the way.
There’s the me who took that PhD position in Switzerland and became a full-time scientist instead of choosing environmental consulting. The me who wasn’t in a hurry to have a home and career but took a couple years to wander the globe. The me who never picked up those black and red spiral-bound notebooks and started telling Maddie and Nate’s story. Each version shaped by decisions both monumental, like choosing consulting over academia, and seemingly inconsequential, like choosing what to eat for breakfast or which notebooks to buy.
But here’s what fascinates me: despite all these distinct realities, we’re all quantum entangled—connected across space and time by something deeper than circumstances.
The Entanglement of Choices
What strikes me most about quantum entanglement is how particles can share a mysterious connection across impossible distances. And that’s exactly how I feel about the chain of choices that led me to this birthday moment as a published author. The decision to pursue my MBA and leap from environmental consulting into marketing in the medical industry. The move to Arizona that came with that career shift. Meeting Mike there, who would one day ask the simple question “what would you write about?” that launched my journey into writing fiction.
Each choice created ripple effects that shaped not just my writing, but the very trajectory of my life. If I had taken that PhD position in Switzerland and become a full-time scientist, would I ever have discovered this creative side? If I hadn’t made the leap to marketing, would I have learned to blend analytical thinking with storytelling? If I hadn’t moved to Arizona, would I have met Mike? Would he have asked that question that changed everything?
Even the seemingly inconsequential choices like the specific notebooks and pens I choose to help the story “just flow out of me” when I write longhand. Those small decisions connected with the bigger ones, created the unique path that led to who I am and where I am for this birthday’s celebration.
The Ripple Effect of Decisions
Writing about Maddie and Nate has given me an expanded perspective on birthdays and aging. Each one doesn’t just mark another year of my existence; it’s a culmination of countless choices that led to this exact moment. Whether it was a small decision (picking up that first writing craft book my sister recommended) or a significant one (deciding to actually finish that first novel), each choice set me on a path that altered the course of my life.
Even the seemingly inconsequential creative choices had unforeseen consequences. My decision to make Maddie and Nate members of the Silent Generation (born in the 1930s) meant I had to research what it would have been like for them as their careers progressed through the 1960s and 70s. My investigation into a prior generation offered a new perspective on my lived experience and highlighted persistent and evolving challenges for women in professional settings.
Quantum Birthday Gratitude
So yesterday, as I celebrated another trip around the sun, I was grateful for the mysterious entanglement of choices that brought me to this moment. I’m celebrating the decision to start writing without knowing what I was doing, the choice to trust that stories could flow through an old-fashioned pen onto paper, and the leap of faith to keep going even when I discovered how much I didn’t know about the craft.
I’m grateful for my husband Mike, who asked the question that started this adventure, and for my sister Christine whose choice to give me a crucial writing craft book as a birthday gift taught me I wasn’t doing everything wrong after all. I’m grateful for all the seemingly small choices that created the ripple effects leading to published books, readers who connect with Maddie and Nate’s story, and that I’m celebrating this birthday as an author or multiple published books.
Just like Maddie tells Nate in “Out of Time”: “I believe that every possible reality is happening simultaneously, so every possible life we’re living is always happening. We just happen to be observing this one.”
The Perfect Timing of Now
As my characters have taught me, timing is everything—and also nothing. This birthday represents perfect timing not because of my age, but because of the accumulated wisdom of all my ages. Every year I’ve lived, every choice I’ve made, every path I’ve taken or not taken has led to this moment where I can celebrate not just who I am, but who I’ve always been.
In some parallel universe, I’m celebrating this birthday as a lifelong scientist. In another, I published my first novel at twenty-five. In yet another, I never discovered the magic of storytelling at all.
But in this reality—the one I’m observing—I’m celebrating as someone who learned that the connections between choices and outcomes can be as mysterious and powerful as quantum entanglement itself. Like entangled particles that share a mysterious connection across space, the decisions we make continue to influence each other across time in ways we might never fully understand.
Some souls are quantum entangled across every reality. Today I’m celebrating the soul that connects every age I’ve been to every age I’ll become.
Happy birthday to all my parallel selves (yesterday and always). May we continue to find each other across space, time, and infinite possibility.
If you’re curious about the quantum physics of love and connection, check out my Maddie and Nate series—exploring how some souls are destined to connect across every reality. Because while love is forever, timing is everything.