One Moment in Time

Can you trace your current circumstances back to one specific event, maybe even one specific moment, in your life? I can. It's as clear as day, and at the time I definitely had no idea what a pivotal moment, or what a complete blessing, it was.

It all goes back to Matt Armsby. I have absolutely no idea where he is right now or what he is doing these days. I sincerely doubt that he realizes what an impact he had on my life.

Here's how it all played out.

-I was in sixth grade at Dynamo, where I swam year-round. Don't ask me the context, but one day, Matt Armsby flipped me off.
-For that, I could not stand him. Being 12, naturally my disdain for this individual quickly turned to infatuation.
-I wrote him a note and stuck it in his box (we all had one for newsletters and such). He wasn't remotely interested in me. He had a girlfriend. For some strange reason, though, he wrote back.
-What I called a "note war" ensued. In typical 6th grade psychotic fashion, I wrote him long, LONG notes (I mean, like, 20 pages long) about basically every single thing that happened every day.
-For some strange reason, he continued to write back. Through our exchanges, I learned that he played the clarinet in band.
-If this boy played the clarinet, then it MUST be cool. Therefore, I must get a clarinet for Christmas and join the band.
-I got a clarinet for Christmas. I joined the band. I subconsciously prayed for the day that I would no longer do such psychotic things.
-Eventually (3 months later), I decided that the clarinet sucks and decided to take up the flute. I officially made the switch freshman year when I started the marching band.
-When you're in the band, your life revolves around the band and everyone else in it. I met Stephen Harris, who eventually became my homecoming date my junior year of high school.
-Rob Buffington and I decided to meet up a few times and prepare for our respective dates leading up to Homecoming. Through that, we found a connection, developed crushes on each other, and started an intense 2-month relationship.
-While we were dating, it was announced that we were starting a lower-level performing band (Concert Band). If you were in Symphonic Band, you could join the Concert Band, but you had to play a different instrument from a different family.
-Always up for a challenge, I decided to go for it. Rob (a trombone player) convinced me to play trombone because marching in the front line in the 4th of July parade through D.C. that upcoming summer would supposedly be pretty cool.
-My band director told me that he didn't think there was any way I could play the trombone and maintain my flute embouchure. I would not allow myself to prove him correct. Off to teach myself trombone I went.
-I switched to the trombone for marching season my senior year. Though I enjoyed the fact that my year was devoid of the drama that I lived for three years in the flute section, I could not wait to be done. I swore up and down I would never, ever, under any circumstances be in the marching band again.
-Fast-forward to freshman year at UGA. I joined a quasi-online-dating network called SparkMatch. I didn't necessarily join to find love, but more just to find potential friends nearby. I know it is hard to imagine a time when Facebook did not exist, but I actually survived college without it.
-I met and became friends with Mike Knoll, who lived in the dorm next door and who played the trombone in the band at UGA.
-After conversing with him a few times, I was sitting on the futon in my dorm room one day when this thought popped into my mind. "Should I join the band? What if I am making a mistake by not having at least tried it?" It was the most spontaneous of thoughts. It didn't come to me because I had a crush on Mike at the time - I think this preceded those feelings. I think it just came to me because talking to Mike brought it to the forefront of my mind. It was the smallest, most spontaneous of an inkling of a thought, but it quickly spread through my mind like cancer, and I couldn't shake it.
-In a move that surprised many, many people, I joined the band. One friend commented that I was the last person on earth that she ever thought would join the band in college.
-Of course, the trombone section is chock-full of guys. I was one of 3 females that year. I had many people to hang out with.
-I ended up hanging out with a bunch of people one night and doing illegal things. I found myself having a lot of fun with one of the guys. We exchanged numbers.
-We hung out a couple times by ourselves after that. I found myself liking him a lot and hoping it'd go somewhere.
-We were making the trip to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. It was time to pick seat partners. Who better to sit with than my crush's roommate? Maybe he could give me some tips or some insight. His roommate just happened to be Andy.
-We sat together and hung out a lot (with the exception of the time when I ended up being the second-to-last person to leave a hotel room, with the last person being the engaged guy who asked if he could kiss me. I promptly removed myself from the situation). We decided that it would be fun to get certified on the climbing wall together.
-We had fun being climbing wall partners. One day, I went to the climbing wall with another friend, Brandon. I realized that being at the climbing wall with Brandon just wasn't right. I think that was when I knew I wanted to get to know Andy better.
-Our beginning wasn't anything terribly riveting. We had a friendship, which grew into love, which resulted in marriage in 2004.
-In 2006, January-ish, suddenly I wanted a baby and had to have one. Promptly. Andy did not agree. I begged, pleaded, and cried. Probably not some of my finer moments. Finally, we agreed on January of 2007 as a start-date to begin trying for a family.
-In May of 2007, I found out I was pregnant with Liam.

Had it happened in any other way, at any other time, we would not have Liam. I cannot IMAGINE life without Liam, nor can Andy. Had I not gotten flipped off by Matt Armsby in 6th grade, the sequence of events that followed never would have been set into motion. Had I met and married (or not met and not married) any other man, we would not have the two amazing children that we have now. Had Andy greeted my desire for a baby with open arms, we'd have a 3-year-old who isn't the child we have now. Had we conceived one month, or one week, or even one nanosecond sooner or later than we did, we would not have that amazing little child who just absolutely lights up our lives (almost) every moment of every day. As a result, Macy would have been timed differently as well, and we wouldn't have her. We'd have someone else, but we wouldn't have HER.

It just all seems so precarious. Everything had to fall lock-step into place for me to be where I am now, infinitely blessed with the husband and kids that I have. One thing out of place, and it wouldn't have happened.

I know it wasn't random. I know it was all the plan God had for my life, and for that I am eternally grateful.