Life has a funny way of working out. As I sit here, sipping my coffee with Milo sleeping at my feet, I can’t help but think of what had to happen in order for me to be here.
First, I withdrew from New York University back in 2011. I still look back on this and consider it one of the most difficult decisions of my life. Society has us all convinced that we’re supposed to know what we want to do of the rest of our lives by the time we graduate high school. If we don’t get it right on the first try, we’re labeled ‘drop outs’ and told that we’ll never have a satisfying career. I felt like the biggest failure. All my friends were loving life at their new schools, decorating their dorms, going to classes, and meeting new people. I was back at my parents’ house, unemployed and confused.
I immediately applied to every restaurant around my house. Out of all the places I applied, I happened to get a job at Applebee’s. I was working full-time for a semester until I figured out what I wanted to study at school. I worked a lot of shifts with a guy named Matt. We became really close friends, even after I enrolled at West Chester University. I was still working at Applebee’s after I started school, but only on weekends. Matt and I would go running during the week with a few other people on campus. At school, I became best friends with a girl named Heather.
One day, Matt enlisted in the Marine Corps. He went through boot camp and came out with a bunch of new friends. I went to visit him, along with a few friends from school. We were introduced to his boot camp buddies, which included Kyle. Originally, Matchmaker Matt was trying to set Kyle up with my friend Hannah and set me up with someone else. Lucky for me, Kyle and Hannah didn’t click. Kyle got my number from Matt and we started texting. My friend Heather met and started dating Matt’s other friend, Mike.
Every visit Heather and I made from that point on was to see Kyle and Mike. The rest is history. Kyle and I dated, we fell in love, we married, we adopted Milo, and we moved across the country. None of this would have ever happened if I had stayed at NYU, or if I got a job at a different restaurant, or if I never worked a shift with Matt, or if I never met Heather at WCU, or if Hannah and Kyle had started dating, or if Matt or Kyle had never enlisted. The list goes on. It took a lot of puzzle pieces coming together to bring me to where I am today.
When it feels like life is throwing you about a thousand curve balls and you can’t find your place in all of it, trust that God has a plan for you. I used to spend countless nights crying because I felt like I had failed somehow by not sticking it out at NYU. Instead, I’m now happily married to an incredible man, living life in our little desert home with our sweet pup. I have made more friends on this crazy journey than I can count. I have experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I have learned to let go of all the what-if’s and enjoy what God has given me.
Thank you all for being a part of my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Amanda Douet 