Chance decides everything…

Today, our son and daughter-in-law celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary. Days like these always make me wonder and marvel at the journey that brings two people together.

Mostly, I always think about how chance decides everything. For Keith and Nicole, it was their separate decisions to head to a Providence restaurant/bar on St. Patrick’s Day in 1994 called Finnegan’s. Keith would tell us of this “girl” he met, but we wouldn’t meet her until a few weeks later. We were supposed to meet Nicole at Audrey’s Confirmation party, but Nicole was sick that day. Audrey and Jane were, respectively, 15 and 13 at the time, and they were especially anxious to meet this girl who Keith couldn’t seem to stop talking about. This girl who was graduating from college and who had been a gymnast and could do backflips.

We would meet Nicole on a Saturday. When she walked into our home, I saw this beautiful girl with long dark hair and big blue eyes. But I saw more. This is the truth, and I told Nicole about this much later than that day… I had a vision of her in a white dress and veil. It was instant. It was kind of… well, unusual, to say the least.

Nicole was young and fresh out of college, though, and by the Fall she was heading to New York City where she was offered a position in her field. The distance and the time did not deter their love or their relationship… and after countless hours of travel and visits back and forth, Nicole returned to Rhode Island.

The rest, as they say, is history. A puppy, named Finnegan, of course. An engagement. A beautiful wedding. And in 2001, our first grandchild, Taylor Jane. Then in 2002, our first grandson, Andrew Barry.

I am just so thankful and blessed that each of them decided to head to Finnegan’s that St. Patrick’s Day evening way back in 1994. That chance meeting decided everything.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, KEITH & NICOLE!! Your wedding day continues to be one of the most beautiful memories of my life… and all that has followed!  I love you both beyond all words, and you know how much I love words!

I guess that vision was pretty real.