Day 227: Meant to be?

Have you ever seen a movie in which the plot is a character going back to some pivotal decision in his/her past and making a different choice? Usually the character somewhere along the way realizes his life was perfect just the way it was and wishes to go back. The angel/ghost/fairy godmother waves a wand or angel dust and the character wakes at home in his bed, grateful for another chance to be present in his life and for the people he has met along the way.

I was talking about college choices to a student the other day and walking past the guidance center with all its pretty college recruiting posters, when I thought about a place I hadn't thought about in 20 years. After college night my junior year in high school, I came home with a glossy brochure for Green Mountain College in Vermont. With its ski slope and beautiful campus, shot during the radiant fall foliage, my heart was sold. My parents were not. As the oldest of three girls, one of whom was already talking medical school, two of whom were already sold on a small, private, Christian schools, I was going to be the first to take chunks out of my parents' modest college fund. I hung the picture of the red, orange, yellow tree saturated campus and stately brick buildings on my bedroom wall. I think my parents could hear their pocketbooks crying. I looked up the tuition, and it was twice what the most expensive state school would have cost, not to mention the travel expenses for holidays.

The picture stayed on the wall; as did the dream of attending that college. This week walking past the college posters, I was reminded of that tiny school in Vermont I had once wanted to attend. I wondered what college with 800 students would have been like instead of classes with 800 students. I wondered what living in Vermont would have been like; whom might I have met, what career path might I have pursued. I can close my eyes and picture the ivy, the blanket of snow covering campus as we sipped coffee and had intellectual debates.

But alas, I attended a state school thirty miles from home. There I met a man who became one of my closest friends in college. Through him I was re-introduced to my first husband whom I had known in high school. Being married right out of college meant sleeping on the couch back home wasn't an option, so I took the best of the jobs I was offered, even though it was farther away from home, and ended up in a small central Illinois town. The marriage didn't last, but the job did . . . (skip much drama) . . . eventually leading me to meet the man who is now my best friend, my anchor, and the love of my life. Loving him led us to marry, the army led us to Texas, being in Texas helped us be chosen as the adoptive parents for Lil Bit.

Sometimes I wonder how God/fate plays a role in our lives. Were Chad and I destined to be because of the choices we each made or did God make us for each other and would have woven our lives together no matter what we chose. Had I gone to the fancy Vermont college, would he have been stationed somewhere close? Would we have met anyway?

In fact, the weekend we met I was supposed to be having a ladies weekend with my mother. She visited my sister first, fell and shattered her ankle. She couldn't drive, walk, or even stand for 6 weeks. If she had been able to visit, I would not have gone out with my friends to celebrate my birthday. I would not have been at the club where Chad and I met. Seems a little like fate/God had a hand in our meeting to me.

We don't agree on everything, we have different approaches in our day to day activities, but we manage to meet in the middle most of the time and complement each other so well. I don't know if there really is only one true love for each person in the world, but the love I have for him and he shows for me is so far beyond what I have ever known. I think maybe we were meant to be. I definitely know that I wouldn't go back and change anything if I knew I wouldn't be with him.