82 - COLISEUM COINCIDENCE

COLISEUM COINCIDENCE

16 x 12 inches

(Fall of 1962 coliseum at UNL)

My first day of college was both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. The transition from 50 students in high school to 10,000 students in college was nearly overwhelming. Registration day felt like a bad dream. I had carefully followed all of the procedures for pre-registration, but when I gave my name to the registration desk, they searched and searched. Finally they told me my registration papers were not there. Struggling to maintain my composure, I felt tears start to trickle down my face.

During those brief moments of lost paperwork, a part of me wanted to run back home to the familiarity of my childhood farm. In retrospect, it’s clear that I possessed everything I needed to protect myself: my real comfort zone was always inside, waiting for me to build enough strength to become all I was meant to be. Light and strength were simply waiting to be accessed.

My attention was quickly redirected when I heard another freshman complaining boisterously. He said it was too difficult to press through eight layers of carbon and paper. Suddenly, he stood up and declared he had two registration forms; then he said my name. By mistake (or coincidence) they had given him my registration paper with his—alphabetized order, Ronald Young and Suzanne Young.

I was overjoyed—he was my hero. Years later after our courtship and marriage, I came to understand that our joined registration forms were much more than just a coincidence. Had it not happened just the way it did, our son, Coby would have never been born. That day taught me to look closely at the deeper meanings of coincidences.