The Guy Next Door

I just booked a wedding with a bride-to-be who went to the same high school as I did. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal. But growing up I moved around a lot.

And I mean....a lot. Born into an Air Force family in the sunny state of California, my dad finished his duty and moved the family back to his home state of Alabama. My family had an MG convertible and at 3 months old my parents stuck me in a cardboard box behind the two seats and off we went...cross country (long before any seatbelt laws). A couple of years and two moves later (Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, Alabama) my dad took the civil service exam and became an air traffic controller. What followed was a whirlwind of positions at airports across the country.

Birmingham, Alabama. Valdosta, Georgia. Homestead, Florida. Stone Mountain, Georgia. New Albany Indiana. Rocky River, Ohio.

Which brings me back to this wedding I booked recently. I currently live in the beautiful town of Bloomington, Indiana. The bride is from Rocky River, my alma mater, and she now lives in Lafayette, Indiana.  It turns out she graduated 20 years after I did (ouch!!). During our initial meeting to discuss her wedding packages we spent more time talking about Lake Erie, graduation parties, and how far away from the high school we lived. Such a small world.

We're only about 360 miles from Rocky River now. But what makes this chance meeting even more surprising is the fact that I moved a few more times after graduating high school.

Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Pasadena, California. Glendale, California. Nashville, Tennessee. And Oak Park, Illinois.

My wife and I finally ended up in Bloomington, Indiana in 2005. A couple of months ago my 4 year old son and I were invited to a friend's house to hang out at the pool. Also present was a woman I'd never met, who was there doing some exercises in the pool. "What do you do for a living?" she asked. "I'm a wedding photographer," I replied. "Really? My soon to be daughter-in-law is getting married next year and I don't think they've hired a photographer yet."

And that's why I think it's so remarkable that Colleen went to the same high school I did.