Life has a way of throwing us off of our game. Most of the time it is small things that gradually change our lives. In the last 12 months my life has been tossed about by some pretty big unexpected events. These events effected everything from my Collegiate Rugby career to my religious beliefs. So after a year of the unexpected you would think that I would begin to expect the unexpected. Well apparently I still have not learned that lesson as well as I guess I am supposed to.
Well I will start out a year ago. It is my Senior season on the Brigham Young University Rugby team. In the last 3 seasons I have played 3 different positions. I had to learn the intricacies of a new position every year. So coming into my senior year I was prepared to learn how to play my fourth position in four years. I came into the season prepared to begin playing fullback. First season I learned to play Center mainly. My second season I played mostly 2nd Five, or Inside Center. The third season I played a lot of Wing. So switching positions one more time was to be expected and I had planned with the coaches at the end of Junior year to try out Fullback. So all Fall semester I trained as Fullback. Well when Winter Semester/ Season rolled around I should have expected the unexpected. During our inter-squad scrimmage I was switched for the last 10 minutes to playing Scrumhalf. I really didn't think too much of it until we were in Washington playing the first Big game of the Season against OPSB. Noke, our current Scrumhalf, went down with a knee injury in the first 5 minutes. My name was called and I had to acclimate thru baptism of fire, as we took on one of the top men's programs in the Men's Super League. As the Season continued I got more comfortable and capable in my newest position. So it should have been expected that something would happen to change my career even more. It was during the final minutes of our game against St Mary's. I was in a tackle and due to a teammate that I broke the Anterior Wall of my Frontal Sinus. So this effectively ended my playing career halfway thru my senior year. After this I was forced to take a sideline role. I had to have surgery to repair the break.
The next unexpected event was the decision/inspiration to change schools. I had been considering taking summer classes somewhere so as to help boost my GPA for my Graduate School applications but the Lord made it clear we were to transfer to a small school in Montana. Once here for the summer we lived with KD's parents so we could save all of the money we made during the summer. The transfer has been a blessing in my life although it has been slightly harder for KD. This changed my life unexpectedly because I have lived on my own minus summers since 2005. So it has been a change to be living under someone else's roof.
The third and probably the most unexpected change that has taken place happened in December. KD and I were expecting an addition to our small family, part of the reason why we had decided to continue to live at home rather than find an apartment. Due to unexpected events we lost our daughter prior to birth. (for more detail see
http://itcouldhappentoyou2.blogspot.com).
So now you are probably thinking what else could happen that this guy would not be expecting. Well there was one more event so far in the last 12 months that has changed my life dramatically. I applied for a paid full-time internship with Alyeska Pipeline back home in Alaska. With my dad knowing the person who is in charge of the position I applied for I had insider information that I was the only applicant and that Alyeska had set aside the funds for the position. So naturally I began making tentative plans to spend the summer back home. I had my phone interview and although it was not my brightest moment I felt I did well enough to secure the position. After the interview they told me they would contact me no later than the 28th of February to tell me if I got the position or not. So I began the wait. My interview was on the 14th of February. Two weeks went by and I had not heard anything except my parents making plans for sleeping and transportation arrangements. So Thursday the 28th comes around and I check my email while sitting at work at school. There is a generic rejection email from Alyeska. I did not get the internship. I was counting on this internship so I could earn my final 6 internship credits for graduation in December. So now what?
After the year I have had I hope that I have learned to expect the unexpected. Hopefully the next unexpected event will be on a more positive note than most of those I have outlined here. Life has a funny way of showing you what is truly important.
Just ASK KD
(For more info on any of the events mentioned in this post see
http://itcouldhappentoyou2.blogspot.com)
