Everything Happens for a Reason, Part 1

Sometimes when things happen in life, we look for an immediate answer. We ask "Why did this happen?" Often times we don't get an answer right away...and sometimes we may never know the answer. But upon looking back on certain events in my life, regardless of how significant they were, I questioned their purpose.
There are some that I am still trying to fully understand; and others where I think I know why they happened.

The first big one was moving from Indiana to Michigan when I was in middle school. My parents both worked for GM and their jobs were being transferred. We had no choice. We ended up moving in the middle of the school year when I was in 7th grade. It was very difficult fitting into a new school and trying to make friends...especially at that age. Kids are mean and being the new student put a big spotlight on me. The friends I chose at that time would decide who I would be surrounded by in my most influential years - high school. Many times I questioned why we had to move...why it had to happen. Why couldn't we just stay in the state where I was born - where my father still lived? Why did I spend some days eating alone at lunch in the cafeteria?

Finally, when I entered high school a year and a half later, I began to settle in. I had a small group of friends...and I had accepted my life as it was. Throughout high school, I made a lot of great friends and participated in tons of extra-curricular activities - Marching Band (Color Guard), Track, Cross Country, Science Olympiad, and painting lessons. I look back and realize how the people I encountered during this time shaped who I have become today. My friends - good people who cared about me, my teachers - who taught me invaluable life lessons, and especially my art teachers - who shaped the artist I am today.

I look forward to the present time and wonder what my life would've been had we not moved...and I can't imagine it. I can only see the good that eventually came out of moving to Michigan. The fact that I eventually met my husband in this state...and got married...found great jobs and a nice house. I can't imagine my life any different...and I realize that this was the path that was set out for me all along.

The next one may seem insignificant, but I see the importance of this event now - my senior prom. I had asked a guy that I worked with to go with me. He waffled a little, but said ok. That is, until a couple weeks beforehand, he changed his mind. I was crushed...so I ended up asking one of my best male friends (JR) that I also worked with if he would go with me. We always had so much fun together at work...and had begun hanging out together outside of work as well. He was a little leary of saying yes because he had a girlfriend (they went to a different school), but he figured she probably wouldn't find out...and if she did, he didn't care. (Ultimately she did find out and they broke up, but that's another story)

So, it was on. Senior prom with JR. And we ended up having an amazing time together! Ultimately, who would've thought that the photo we had taken that night would change my life forever. Let me back up a little...I already mentioned that JR went to a different school - and we met at work. Well...JR's best female friend at his school was TF. Him and TF had been friends since elementary school! You're now probably wondering what TF has to do with this story, right? Well...fast forward to fall after my senior prom. TF is in college and taking a band class...she has a photo of JR and I from my prom...and my now husband just happens to be in that class as well. TF is showing him photos of her friends..."this is my friend JR at one of his friend's proms"...DH instantly asks who I am...and the rest is history.

Had I not gone to prom with JR...and ended up going with the other guy instead, TF wouldn't have had that photo with me in...and my husband and I may have never met. I am constantly amazed that something that seems so insignificant can be a turning point in someone's life. I mean, maybe my life path would've led me to him eventually anyway, but there's no guarantee.

(to be continued)