"Gabby, a 24 year old TV professional in Arizona, receives a dream job offer: she is invited to New York to work as a news producer. Everything sounds just wonderful: the contract, the pay, the job itself; it is something Gabby has always wanted. However, if she moves to New York she will have to work something out with her boyfriend Cam: Cam does not want her to leave, and he is not keen on long distance relationship, either.
Gabby does not know what to do about it, but she's not going to miss such a career opportunity, so she is getting ready to move to New York. Her flight is only 36 hours away when Cam suddenly proposes to her, hoping that it will make Gabby stay. Surprised and confused, Gabby cannot decide, but Cam takes her nervous indecision as agreement. Gabby doesn't have the heart to tell him that she didn't really mean it. After all, Cam's proposal is another dream coming true, she loves this man and does not want to lose him. As they celebrate, Gabby makes a desperate wish on a shooting star. She wishes she didn't have to make such a difficult choice but could have both the job and the man of her dreams.
Miraculously, the wish comes true. On the next morning, Gabby wakes up at home; she is not sure how the situation with Cam had gotten resolved, but she knows she is taking the job and moving to New York, so she continues her preparations. However, when she goes to sleep and wakes up again, she finds herself in Cam's truck, and she knows that she has agreed to marry him and stay in Arizona. She now lives two different lifelines, independent from each other; she actually gets to live the same day twice. First, Gabby lives it as if she has chosen the job; then she lives it as if she has chosen marriage. Both lives are real, and Gabby is aware of both.
So, Gabby moves to New York, and at the same time, in the other lifeline, starts wedding preparations in Arizona. However, what might look like a perfect solution very soon brings its difficulties. Somehow, having it both ways doesn't really work; each lifeline misses what the other one has to offer, and each one has its problems. The NY version of Gabby tries to settle in the new place and, among other things, has to deal with an unorganized roommate. And she misses Cam. The Arizona Gabby faces Cam's controlling mother who knows exactly how the wedding must be done and constantly meddles in. Besides, living two lives is exhausting. Gabby realizes that she cannot handle it. She will have to choose one, after all.
Having given it a lot of thought, Gabby decides that she prefers the NY version of her life, so she makes her Arizona self to come to New York as well. When the two selves meet, the two lifelines merge into one. Cam follows, having perhaps realized that moving away from mama would be a good thing for them both. He and Gabby get married.
"
Laura Southcombe, Resident Scholar
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