Tuesday, September
10: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.
I think I've briefly mentioned a few times on my blog that I met my husband through my former roommate. As in, my husband is my former roommate's older brother. I got a husband and made one of my closest friends my sister-in-law in one shot! Pretty good deal if you ask me :-) Although I've made reference to this, I haven't really written much about how exactly that happened... and the start of the whole thing is truly a very distinct moment that changed my life forever.
After college, I had moved to Los Angeles for my two year teaching commitment with Teach For America. During our month-long summer training (teacher boot camp, if you will), we were placed with a roommate by the very sophisticated method of alphabetical order. My last name began with G, and her last name began with H. And so we became roommates for that 5 weeks. Lucky for us, we got along really well, became fast friends, and then decided to live together for the next two years.
I had seen several photos of Renee's brother, and had always thought (and I think even mentioned to her once or twice) that I her brother was pretty cute, but of course thought nothing more of it.
One evening just a few months after we became roommates (I wish I remembered the exact date), Renee was talking to her brother on the phone in our main room. I was talking to our other roommate, Kayli, and at some point in their conversation, he heard my voice over the phone and told Renee to put her roommate on the phone so he could say hello. Renee sort of shoved the phone in my direction, saying that her brother wanted to talk to me. And I shook my head no, and frantically waved my hands indicating that she better get me out of this one.
Nearly three hours later, I hung up the phone with David. We talked on the phone several times a week and eventually every night after that.
That moment and that first phone conversation absolutely marked a significant turn in my life. I remember very clearly the panic I felt when Renee pushed the phone into my hands. Of course, I never could have imagined all that would come from that moment: the start of a 1.5 year long distance relationship, a move to Houston, our engagement and wedding, and even a move to Australia.
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Renee, David, and I at our LMU/TFA graduation |