what if...

My husband and I were chatting tonight and he asked me a question that I really didn't have the answer to. He explained how his manager had taken his son on a college visit recently. This college was where I attended and my husband had actually applied but did not get into his program. He actually attended a different school and we didn't meet until post college. 

We actually grew up 20 minutes away from each other. Our high schools were in the same conference. I drove by his family feed mill every weekend on my way back from college but never noticed it. We had one mutual friend. One. That mutual friend is actually how we met on our blind date. Without that friend, I had never heard the boy's name in my life. I never even knew he existed.

He briefly explained that his manager's recent college visit had him thinking and his question to me tonight was do you think we would be together if we ever ended up going to the same college?

My mind drew a blank when he asked me this question because I guess I never thought about it before. He met our mutual friend through his college roommate and that group of friends. He thinks if he would have went to his college of choice, he never would have ran around with that group that lead him to me.

It's interesting to wrap our mind around these things. He has always been bitter about the fact that he wasn't accepted to that school which has been hard for me because, well, I want to enjoy my alma mater together. I would like to think that the reason he wasn't accepted eventually lead him to me. I hope that's a good thing in my husband's eyes!

Maybe we would have met at school. Maybe we would have found a mutual friend down there. It's hard telling but I have always been a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. On the contrary, I use to ask him what it would have been like if we would have met and went to the same college. Went through the college life experience together. Sounds fun. It would have meant more time in life together but I think it's a blessing in disguise that it didn't work out that way. It's kind of fun to have that past before we met each other. The past that molded and shaped us into who we are today. I like to think of it as that mysterious side to each other. I think it's what I needed to experience on my own and not share with anyone else.

My husband's college situation is a good reminder that things may not always end up the way we want them to but eventually life works itself out. As hard as it is to choke down news like being rejected from your dream school, being turned down for a job, not being approved for that loan or or a relationship failing, we must remember that there is something else waiting for us.

That's where patience is a virtue.