Beginnings

The very first day of college; can you remember the feeling? Excitement was HIGH, nervousness abounded, but you couldn’t let it show because you were the epitome of cool; a college student.

Thankfully, on my first day of college in August 1998, I had made two friends by the first day of classes and didn’t have to sit in Arch 101 alone; Lane and Chris, my “first friends.” We sat near the middle, eyeing up everyone else in the room. Little did we know they would fast become our family, sharing triumphs and coffee breaks and late night shenanigans.

I recall Dean Marlene Davis’ welcoming speech telling us to “look around at the other students in the room. Some of you will become business partners, some won’t make it to graduation, some of you will become husband/wife...” At the mention of that last bit I remember looking around at the boys in the room...these boys? Really? Weird, I don’t even know them...and one of them might be my soul mate?

How funny it is to me that Dean Davis’ words came true exactly 10 years later. How funny it is to me that my future husband was in front of me all that time...in all of my classes, asking me for spelling help when we were writing papers, living on the same college campus, yet we were on different paths during those years. How happy I am that our paths finally converged right before graduation and we fell for each other!

Sometimes I still walk in to the living room or past the kitchen and glimpse Ethan...and think “hey, that’s Ethan from architecture school, what’s he doing in my kitchen?”

Happy one year anniversary to my best friend and the person I admire most! I am thankful for you every day.