Butterfly Effect

I was reading Joe (fantastic blog!) today when he was talking about chaos and other things. It got me thinking about how many times this has happened in my life.

The first one I can really remember is my Grandmother's death. My Grandmother lived in another town in Iowa about two hours away from my family. She came to visit us for a week and during the visit she was talking about how she'd gone to see my aunt at college in Missouri the week before. She'd arranged to meet my aunt at a specific time on campus. While she was waiting for my aunt to meet her, she ran into my uncle who was also going to school there but had no idea that his mother was going to be on campus that day. He'd had to go to the registration office to take care of some paperwork and it was totally unexpected. She then got to visit with her two younger children there, came to our house for a week and visited with us, then went home and the next week had a massive stroke and died. Strangely enough she'd gotten to speak in person with each one of her children and her grandchild before she died.

The other one that sticks in my mind is my husband. He's a few years older than I am, and I met him through a friend who was dating his brother, who is my age. I'd met his brother several times, and in a random "I'm hearing you but not listening" way, I'd heard things about his older brother, but it never stuck. Mainly because the younger brother is blond haired and blue eyed and that's really never been my "type". Okay, so I end up at a party in the middle of nowhere because another friend had a fight with her boyfriend (who was a friend of the younger brother).... keeping up? She was afraid he wouldn't talk to her at the party and she'd be left with no one to talk to but me - if I went. Feeling sorry for her, I went. As fate laughed loudly, she and her boyfriend made up immediately and I was the odd man out.

Now enters tall, dark and handsome. Who, could this be? None other that the older brother!?!?! WFT? He's supposed to be blond and blue-eyed! What is this handsome stranger? I was introduced, but as I am painfully (honest - it hurts) shy, I merely said "hi" and went across the room where I proceeded to casually sneak peeks at this hunk. I couldn't get over how much he looked like the guy of my dreams. Yes, honest-to-god sleeping dreams. I have them, in color, and usually remember them.

To my total shock and embarrassment, every time I snuck a peek at him standing across the room... he was staring at ME! OMG!

Fast forward the evening as I proceed to get terrible stomach cramps. (Heat wave, booze on top of a glass of milk right before I left home. Dumb, I know.) I'm sleeping in my friends' car waiting for them to wrap it up and take me home. Never talked to the guy again...

But wait! He was a brave soul and asked my friend about me. Got all the pertinant info and proceeded to ask me out (through my friend)... the rest, as they say, is history. 26 years and counting...

I love Fate! Butterflies... whatever....