7/12/2006

And then you had to bring up reincarnation Days, sometimes weeks, can pass and I'll still be thinking about a conversation with someone. A while back, BTV and I were discussing fate and things happening for a reason. I'm a believer. He's not. No matter what he says, I'll always be a believer. Maybe one day something will happen that will change his mind. Here's why I believe. Did you ever see that episode of Mad About You where Paul and Jamie talk about the museum blackout? When the subject comes up, Paul says it's his story, but Jamie insists it's her story. Turns out they were both there and they even met that day. David and I were in or near the same place a lot before we actually met. We went to the same church for Bible school for several years when we were kids. The church wasn't even close to my house. My aunt went to that church and that's how I ended up there. I don't even know why David went there. (Actually us in Bible school/camp is pretty laughable now. We're not know for our devout religion.) I babysat a couple times for a family who would come to town from D.C. on the weekends. Their house was on a winding country road. Across the street just so happened to be the farm David's family lived on. His mom knew the people I babysat for and would check in on the house for them during the week. We finally met on our high school's newspaper staff. It was the first year of the paper and the teacher organizing it wanted David to do artwork for it. I was the features editor. I know this sounds weird and scoff if you want, but the teacher had mentioned his name to me a couple times, but I didn't know who he was. Then one day, I was walking down the hall and I saw this guy. I don't know how, but I knew it was him. I can't say I knew I would marry him, because come on. I was like 18, how would I know something like that? But I knew something. I remember the way he walked, like he had somewhere to be. I remember the expression on his face, a kind of concentrated determination, he looked forward, never to the side and never behind him. We were on the newspaper staff together that year. I was graduating, he would be a sophomore. (Oh shut up.) It's really a miracle that we got together. I was interested in him, but he didn't seem particularly interested in me. I called him only once. And when I did he asked me, "What do you want?" (In his defense, he says he was sick that day. Mmm hmm.) After that, I wasn't sure about him. Some time must have passed, but I remember telling myself that was it. He clearly wasn't interested, so I wasn't going to waste my time. He called me that night. We made plans to hang out, but I almost didn't go. I'd seen him on a Friday and he had a phone number written on his hand. That year, I'd ended a really bad relationship and wasn't ready to go through something like that again. The lying, the cheating. I figured the number on his hand was his secret girlfriend's. Lucky for us there was no secret girlfriend. We've been together ever since and it's been an amazing time pretty much growing up with him, making a life together. And that is why I believe that there are things in life that you can't avoid. Things that fate puts in your path, sometimes more than once so you won't miss them. I'm very glad that I paid attention. And/or that David finally did. I'd been hurt pretty badly before and I'm not sure what made me trust him. Or what made him decide he was interested in me after all. But I'm glad it all worked out because I can't imagine my life without him.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, way to make me look bad. If you remember from that conversation, it's not that I don't think things don't happen for a reason -- I do -- I just don't believe in "fate" as some cosmic force that pulls all the strings in peoples' lives, as if there's nothing they can do about it. It's like saying people don't have free will. People who believe that also use "it's fate" to justify all sorts of bad decisions they make that they know are bad, right?

I think God sets the table and it's up to us what to do next. Just like with you and David -- even with all the coincidences of proximity, nobody forced you to get together, you did that yourselves and it worked out. I guess it's not very romantic but it's what I believe.

7/12/2006 08:50:00 AM  
Blogger Genevieve said...

I believe there are people who you are destined to meet. My best friend & I did a similar thing to you & David. When she was 4 she lived in New Orleans, just like me, and was registered to start kindergarten at a school that I eventually would have ended up in. (we both moved right before kindergarten) Then she moved to Maryland near where we lived but we went to different schools. Then we finally met in high school after both our families moved again.

7/12/2006 11:54:00 AM  
Blogger Jasclo said...

Aww, I'm sorry!! I didn't mean to make you feel or look bad. Maybe fate is too strong a word. Destiny. In any case, I don't believe in the textbook definitions (of most philosophical things actually).

Fate and destiny to me aren't something you're locked into. I think people may take different paths, but they'll end up where they're supposed to be. Of course I say that thinking (and hoping) that I'm headed somewhere good.

G, that's so cool! That's exactly what I'm talking about.

7/12/2006 02:02:00 PM  
Blogger Stefanie said...

I love stories like that. And I would love to think that I have a story like that still waiting for me--that I'm just inches away on a regular basis from the person I'm meant to be with, but the timing just hasn't been right yet for us to meet. (This kind of talk would probably shock many of the people who know me, as I feel like a cold-hearted cynic a lot of the time.) Anyway, thanks for inspiring some hope.

Also, I love the post title, as I'm gearing up in my head for an Indigo Girls show tomorrow night. Oh how I love those ladies.

7/12/2006 11:07:00 PM  
Blogger Jasclo said...

Believe, Stefanie! Believe! :)

7/13/2006 01:10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awww...that's so sweet. And you guys are the cutest!

7/14/2006 08:52:00 PM  

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