How We Got Here
The better question is probably "how did it take so long for you to meet?" lol. We both attended Louisiana Tech University, in the same class, in the same college (initially), and we were both in the same on-campus club freshman year which, at its peak, boasted maybe 15 members. And yet, by the end of the year I still didn't know Michael existed. It's like God gave us opportunity #1, aligned our paths just enough for there to be a chance, but let our own devices decide to grasp the opportunity or not, and we parted ways.
We remained parted for a while too. He pushed forward in Mechanical Engineering and I switched my degree course from Construction Engineering to Marketing (I know) which, in theory pulled us even further apart. But God. Because despite our varying career paths, we had a strong unifying hobby: film. Whether photography or videography, that creative itch drove me to marketing and a part-time job as a videographer for the College of Engineering and it drove Michael to hone his craft as an INCREDIBLE aviation photographer!
But hobbies don't pay the bills and Michael decided to apply for a job where he could use his camera skills... my assistant in the College of Engineering. This was opportunity #2. Butttttt Michael was a Junior and my supervisor only wanted to hire a freshman who would be around a while. So when his application came across my desk, into the trash it went (we absolutely laugh about this). Once again, we parted ways.
Thankfully this time it didn't last so long. Fast forward two months to September 21, football season, the Military appreciation game. Do you remember how I said he was an aviation photographer? Well, that comes in handy here! I showed up to the game with my camera because, coincidentally, my second college job was a photographer for LA Tech's Athletic Department. So I was on the clock once again and Michael showed up bright-eyed waiting for two B-52s to fly over just before kickoff.
I walked up to the group of my coworkers, all gathered pre tail-gate to plan our shots and I saw a new face with a new camera in the crew: Michael Kendrick. After getting denied from the videographer position, he was hoping to network his way into a photography job with athletics instead. Little did he know, I had been tasked with recruiting new photographers anyway. Once I saw that he knew his way around a camera, I promptly sent him my supervisor's contact to get hired and I guess the rest is history!
Well, it turns out that the sidelines of a 4 hour athletic event is an amazing place to get to know someone. The girl that threw his application away gave him a job 2 months later and has a ring on her finger 2 years after that! Crazy! We like to think that God smiled when we finally got the timing right.
There is no one in this world that I could imagine growing old with and learning to love more and more every day. I know he gave me a diamond, but I wholeheartedly believe I found the most brilliant diamond of them all.