>

Friday, August 05, 2011

Almost. . . and then some

A strange thought process made me think of some of the almost's in my life:

I *almost* went to this really cool Christian conference in L.A. in 1993 or '94. Angie and I won fourth place in a national writing contest for a teen magazine (ironic and prophetic that it was writing and not singing, hey Ang?). Our registration was paid for, but our travel was not, so we weren't able to go. Bonus: we got to see our names in print in a national publication.

I was *almost* on the ballot as a homecoming queen nominee my senior year. This really tall band nerd--okay, drummer--nominated me for the Key Club representative, and somehow the rest of the club backed him up. But the morning the male representative and I showed up at the pep rally to parade around with the nominees from other campus organizations, we learned that our Key Club sponsor had failed to pay the required fee, and so my name never made it to the ballot. Bonus one: my dad got really, really mad (which is kind of a big deal) and griped the sponsor out. She apologized to me. Bonus two: turns out the drummer had a crush on me, so I married him.

I *almost* got to see Michael Jordan play for the Chicago Bulls in 1997. Our high school orchestra (which I was not a part of) was going on a Spring Break trip to Chicago and the teacher asked my friend and I if we wanted to come with them because we were in his music theory class with a bunch of orchestra nerds. Unfortunately, the funding wasn't there, and so neither were we. Bonus: I got to go to the Ft. Worth water gardens instead (?).

I was *almost* a rich and famous Christian musician. I used to be in this trio with my two best friends, and we sang pretty darn well, especially together. We sang at church, and then at some youth rallies and camps, and then had a few paying gigs. We even got a group of well-respected, intelligent pastors and business men to meet with us as an advisory board and talk about ways we could break into the biz. And then life happened and the trio broke up. Bonus: I don't have to worry about paparazzi.

So with all of the almost, what have I actually done?

Well, like I said, I married the drummer, and it turns out he's my best friend and I like him a lot and think he's really cute.

And then we had some kids. And then some more kids. And the kids just keep coming. And they're all pretty cute so far, too, and we like them pretty well.

And I wrote a novel.

And I earned a B.A. in English.

And I went to Europe.

And I have some pretty awesome friends and family.

So maybe I *almost* a lot. But I'll take the *actually* any day.


2 comments:

Brooke said...

*like*

:)

Angela said...

I completely forgot about that. Yes, prophetic is a good word for it. Hmmm. This was a lovely post and it's really made me think.