Throughout your life, you meet many people. Some “first met” stories are common and unremarkable, but others leave a mark that sticks with you forever. This is a tribute to some of my personal favorite “first met” stories:

1. Darion

In the Fall of 2013, I began college at the University of the Pacific. Darion was my roommate. Pacific also had this event for the incoming freshmen called the MOVE trip, where you volunteered some of your time and then had some fun as well, usually in nature. Darion and I happened to have signed up for the same one. Unfortunately, when we got back from the trip, I got pretty sick.

I looked in the mirror in our dorm room one day and noticed a swelling on my neck. I touched it and it felt like a speed bump—very unnatural.I turned to Darion and said:

“Is this normal? Feel my neck, does my neck feel weird?”

She raised her eyebrows and wrinkled her nose at me.

“I don’t know what your neck feels like!” she said, still watching me questioningly.

It would turn out that the swelling on my neck was my thyroid, and I was very quickly diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It would also turn out that Darion and I would maintain our friendship almost four years later, and we now regularly tell people that story and laugh about it. It’s honestly one of my favorite memories.

2. Rob

My best friend and I met when we were in our sophomore year of high school. Our school, Vanden, had a program called Common Planning Days, wherein every first and third Wednesday of the month, the teachers and administrators would get together for a before-class meeting. Sometimes on these days the Student Body would advertise Wacky Wednesdays. This one took place in October, and being such, had a Halloween theme.

I was at lunch that day, behind the library chatting with a few of my friends, and I spotted some weirdo in a Jedi cape with two light sabers. He was wielding them as if fighting off some invisible enemy, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the nerd.

We wouldn’t actually go on to talk until a few days later, but we did hit it off right away. Here we are, almost 7 years later, and he still Skypes me from Germany whenever we get the chance.

3. My Mom

This one I don’t remember so well, considering I was only about a day old, but the way my mom tells it, it definitely falls on my list of favorites.

First, what you have to know is that I’m adopted. My biological parents were too young and felt that they were offering me a better life, and I am forever grateful for their decision. My mom and my aunt flew to another state to come and get me.

When I was born, I was having issues in that I wouldn’t eat for anyone; none of the nurses could convince me. As a last-ditch effort, they passed me to my mom and asked her to try. They had sensed in my mom that she was good with children, and they were absolutely right.

I’m not sure whether I sensed that she was meant to be my mom, or she just happened to have the right touch. All I know is that I couldn’t ask for a better mom, and I love that we were able to bond that way so quickly.

4. Eric

Moving on to something that’s a bit less emotional, and quite funny if you ask me, I met my boyfriend in our shared English course this past Spring semester. I walked into the class, saw him out of the corner of my eye, and thought that he was cute.

I sat down between him and a friend in my major. The professor walked in and instructed us to introduce ourselves to someone we didn’t know, and Eric turned to me. We exchanged names, majors, ages, and graduation years. He was a Bioengineer, and I an English major. At a lull in the conversation, Eric smirked at me and asked:

“So, I’ve always wondered, what does an English major want to do with their life?”

For a second I was stunned; had he really just asked that? Such sass!

“Well, actually,” I replied, with an equal quantity of sass, “I want to be a screenwriter.”

My other English major friend had overheard and chimed in with other English-major profession possibilities. I felt a tiny bit smug and Eric certainly seemed amused by us, so I took it as a win. We still regularly tease each other about the other's major, and I’m so glad I didn’t take it to heart that day.

Many times in our lives, we come across ordinary people who have an extraordinary impact on your life, and I think it's important to remember just how those people came into our lives.