What if...?

When I was a Scroll editor at BYU-Idaho part of my job was coming up with headlines. I hated that part. I still do. If you can't tell, I've never been very good at expressing myself in few words. How can you take a full story and break it down to one sentence? Maybe two if you're lucky.

Oftentimes I would listen to music while editing, writing, or just shooting the breeze in the Scroll office. Those songs would be my title inspiration nine times out of 10.

A few years removed from those days and still, songs often prove to be my inspiration. This weekend, my cousins reminded me of Joan Osborne's song "One of Us". What if God was one of us....got me thinking 'what if'?

In 2007.08 I was so blessed to land the internship of my dreams. I spent the year learning from some great minds and gaining some great experiences with my all-time favourite team, the Vancouver Canucks. Just a couple of weeks out from playoffs, we were poised for first in our division and it looked like my return to University would be put off yet another semester as I worked through the playoffs to finish my internship. I never wanted it to end so a long run into spring was more than okay with me. What if they went all the way...?

With that hope, the Canucks did the seemingly impossible. They tanked the last two weeks of the season, losing seven of eight to fall out of playoff contention.

Just like that, I was packing my car and driving to Rexburg. I wanted to be anywhere but that podunk college town. Well, that's not true. I wanted to be in the playoffs with the Canucks.

Alas, I got back to school and had one of the best semesters ever. I met some incredible friends--Freeze, Kimbo, Sammi, Home Skillet and Hurricane. I also went through the interview process and was offered a part-time position with the Canucks to start the 2008.09 season.

I was one semester away from graduation but decided I'd defer graduation at least a semester and aim to graduate in the summer of 2009. That season, the guys played their way into the playoffs. After sweeping the St. Louis Blues and winning Game 1 of the second round, I started thinking..what if THIS was the year? Ironically, I actually really, really wanted to go back to Rexburg this time. Not only to finish my degree but also to live with some of my favourite people in the world. I had the opportunity to handpick my living situation for the first time in my university experience and had five roommates waiting for the hockey season to wrap up. What if the team went so far into the playoffs, I couldn't go back to Rexburg? I wrestled with the pros and cons. For the time being, I had an awesome prof who allowed me to do my work online until the hockey season ended. I think I took the other classes online and was planning on picking up a full course load by adding second block classes (thank you BYU-I).

But what if my best laid plans fell flat again?

It was a road game. The Canucks lost, badly, in Chicago and I turned to my aunt and uncle and said, guess I better start packing. That was on a Monday and I had my first mid-term on Friday. I settled things up with the Canucks and left for Rexburg Thursday after work. I drove all night, stopping for a quick nap in Spokane at my friend Aaron's parents' place and rolled into Rexburg just in time for class. Thankfully my prof gave me a pass and said I could do my exam early the following week.

I never got a key to Albion House. Funny, my dream house (so far) and I never even had a key to it. I didn't need one. First of all, it was Rexburg. Second of all, I knew I'd always either be home or with my roommates so could just use theirs. As planned, it turned out to be the best semester ever.

I was so glad to be living with that group of girls. Wendizzle was going through a rough time but she'd been there for me so many times, I was glad to be able to at least be in proximity if she needed someone to talk to. Kyla and Coxy, two of my former basketball teammates, were awesome roommates. Incredible teammates on the court and wicked roommates off it. Kimbo was the best engaged roommate I could have asked for (JNet was pretty stellar too back in the day) and always good for laughs. Then there was Home Skillet. Always game for adventure. We had so many good times. I know that's not all university's about but knowing I was moving fully into the work place shortly after, that's what I wanted that semester to be about (my poor GPA...).

The semester went along and before I knew it, I was a month out from graduating. It would be hard to say goodbye to BYU-I but boy had that school been good to me. My only regret was not winning a basketball championship. I'd come to terms with the fact that I'd be leaving with my B.A. and not my M.R.S.

So basketball season wrapped up and my roomies talked me into something they'd been doing all semester--playing basketball with our Family Home Evening brothers. I'd said no all season because I had 'real ball' to play. So what if I said yes? It'd be fun.

I'd met him my first weekend in Rexburg that May but never really took notice until that Monday night basketball scrimmage. The FHE brother whose name I struggled to remember--Sterling. He had game on and off the court and I was quickly caught up in it.

I knew that time was against us but figured I'd have fun with it. I got that impression from him--he guaranteed fun. So what if things don't work out? At least I'd had fun.

But they did work out. They've been working out ever since. Sterling has become so much more to me than I ever thought anybody could be. My life mate, best friend, confidante and lover.

We're coming up on our two year anniversary and while it feels like just yesterday I was intentionally fouling him just to be close on the basketball court...it also feels like I've known him forever. Like eternity stretches forward and backwards with us.

And to think...what if the Canucks had ended their Stanley Cup drought that summer? What if I hadn't been so set on living with those girls in that house? What if Sterling hadn't transferred from Colorado State to BYU-I while still taking CSU classes? What if he hadn't moved into the apartment that was in my ward's boundaries? What if I never said yes to playing basketball that night? What if...?