Refections on 10 Years Ago

Most often we are not aware of the way little things change the course of the future. It is only when we have the chance to look back that we realize how far we have come. Ten years ago, something very little happened and at the time I didn’t know what was happening, but it changed the rest of my life. Ten years ago today, a little voice told Thomas to start paying attention to me. Here is my side of the story.

We finished the play a week earlier. It had been a joke during the dress rehearsals and performances that I looked like Carrie Fisher as Leia. I had not seen much Star Wars at this point, but appreciated the comparison. (It actually wasn’t the first time I had heard it. In eight grade, I wore my hair around my head like Leia does in The Return of the Jedi and one of Keith’s friend pointed it out to me.)

Tonight was the cast party, so my roommate and I decided to make me look like Leia even more. She helped roll my hair in to Danishes on my ears and did my make-up. The cast party was fun and my ears got very warm under my hair. We took several pictures before I took them down, and even several pictures with Thomas in Star Wars poses. It was a little awkward, but it was fun too. As it got later, I realized it was time to go back to my room and get some schoolwork done, since I had been neglecting it for far too long.

It was misting – not quite raining, but more than just fog – but I wasn’t quite ready to go inside. I was wearing my cape. I walked around the circle a few times and then passed Thomas wearing his tan overcoat coming out as I went to my dorm. I sat down and started to work. It couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes before my RA (she also happened to be one of the director’s of the play and my suitemate and a good friend) came in and said, “Carrie, you should go walk with Thomas. He is walking around the circle and he looks really sad.” I asked why she couldn’t because she was knew him better than I did. But she said that I should do it. So I did. (This is one of the reasons why I credit Abigail as our matchmaker.)

I put back on my cape and came out, just as Thomas was coming in, but when he saw me coming he changed directions. We walked around the circle a few times in the misty rain, but we didn’t talk much. It was just nice being together. I began to think about how much time we had spent together, but now that we didn’t have the play, we would probably not get to spend that much time together anymore. We had different groups of friends, we were in different classes, and we went to different churches. I began to be a little bummed out, and got even more bummed when I thought of all the schoolwork I needed to do.

So I asked him if I could have one more hug as Rosalind before I went in. He gave me one, with a little smile on his face. I was afraid that my Leia make-up would come off on his coat since it was all wet, but it didn’t. Then I went in and cried because I was afraid I never see Thomas again or at least share that special connection we had formed on the stage.

But that isn’t what happened. I didn’t find out until years later that Thomas had purposely come out to walk with me, and when he went back in after walking, he knew he was supposed to pay attention to me. And he didn’t sleep much for the next three nights wondering what to do about it.

As they say, the rest is history. Thomas is my favorite person on earth, and I still find misty rain to be incredibly romantic.