I was at university . . .

I was at university, studying journalism, and had just started working for this "alternative" student newspaper. They sent me to cover a Thanksgiving program that the Indian students had at the Union Ballroom. My wife's mom, an educator, was the featured lecturer and they had a drum there as well. I hadn't been to a pow wow in a few years, so it sent shivers up and down my spine when I heard them singing as I was walking down the hallway.My wife did a quick intro for her mom and I was immediately enthralled--she had this cool "Americans Before Columbus" t-shirt on, but wore an even cooler attitude as well. The way that she laughed, the way she wore her hair, her intelligence, she was the total package . . .I knew a couple of the Indian students from a few years back, when I used to help with the pow wow, so I interviewed them for the story. They all kept telling me I needed to speak to "B" since she was the one who put the program together, but I couldn't . . . too shy, too nervous, etc. . . I spotted one of my classmates in the crowd--went over to see what she was up to. She was doing a story on the program for the student radio station, as part of some class project, so I wrote down some questions for her and made her go interview my wife, since I couldn't do it myself.I managed to avoid her then and for the next 10 months or so, even though we'd cross paths here and there, but one day I was working with one of her cousins on a program on campus and couldn't avoid meeting her. Brian had talked me into checking out "Boyz in the Hood" with him, but he had made arrangements to have B pick us up, without telling me. When he introduced us, he made a point of mentioning that I was engaged and even sat between us at the movie, but the both of us were drawn together, like some kind of horrific accident that just couldn't be avoided . . . That was 14 years and three beautiful children ago. Sometimes when you stare your destiny in the eyes, it scares you so much that you run the other way, but we don't always know what's best for ourselves and destiny usually has her way with us . . .