So Taylor Swift recently came out with her new album folklore and on that album there’s a song called invisible string. The song talks about how fate leads you to the person you’re supposed to be with when you don’t even realize it. Then looking back, you realize how each minute event in your life was pivotal or things wouldn’t have turned out the same way. This had me thinking about the crazy minute events that led to Jared and me meeting and if one thing had been different, we probably never would have met. So here’s the story of the invisible string tying us together.

When I was in 8th grade, my mom was looking for a Creative Memories representative so she could buy some scrapbooking stuff. She did a search with her location on the Creative Memories website and the closest rep to her was a woman named Gloria Shirey. My mom placed her order online with her and Gloria came over to our house one day to bring the order by.

When Gloria was over, she saw Ryan’s snare drum in the living room and asked, “Oh do you have a drummer?” My mom informed her that my 7th grade brother used to take snare drum lessons for a little bit, but was just messing around with the drum. Gloria said, “Well my son is on the Lakewood Ranch High School drumline. He has a friend who gives drum lessons if your son would be interested. It would help him make drumline when he gets to high school.” My mom thought that was a great idea and reached out to Jason Howze to give Ryan drum lessons.

Ryan went over to the Howze’s house once a week for drum lessons. One day I tagged along and got to meet Jason’s mom, Cathy Howze. She asked what I wanted to get involved in when I started high school the next year and I said, “Well I’m a dancer so I want to try out for the Silver Stars dance team.” Mrs. Howze told me if I wanted to dance, I needed to try out for color guard instead of the dance team. She said the color guard performed at halftime every football game and at competitions all season, while the dance team just cheered on the sidelines. (Disclaimer: this is how it was then and the dance team is much better now). When Ryan finished his lesson, Mrs. Howze said, “Jason, Sammy likes to dance. Should she join the dance team or color guard?” Jason said color guard was the way to go so I took their advice and signed up for color guard try outs.

I do have to admit that I did try out for the cheerleading squad and didn’t make it. I was pretty disappointed, but I was excited to give color guard a shot!

Band camp my freshman year of high school is where I met Jared. Although Jared played trumpet, all of his best friends were on drumline, including Tyler Shirey and Jason Howze. He and all of his friends were juniors and seniors and they were the coolest, most popular guys in marching band and I never thought any of them would even look twice at me.

Jared said Jason told them all about coaching Ryan and that he had a sister who was joining color guard so he knew of me before I even knew of him.

We had this one formation in marching band where the band made 3 big squares and I had a solo inside one of those squares. There was a space for me to get into the square, but none for me to get out. While my instructor was trying to find a path for me to exit through, Jared stepped to the side and said, “You can come out through here,” gesturing to the space next to him. I thought that was the nicest thing that this cool older guy would offer to help out a nerdy freshman who looked like a deer in headlights most of the time.

Jared and I “talked” for a few months and hung out all the time during the marching band season. There were so many awkward flirting moments that fall. Jared’s favorite story is one time in the band room (where all the band kids hung out before and after school) his friend noticed me staring at Jared from across the room. Jared thought it was funny (and also weird) so he went into the locker room to put his things away and when he came out, I was still staring at him. That’s when he figured I probably had a crush on him.

In our band show that year, there was a section where band members danced with guard girls. Jared was paired with my friend Brooke to dance. At one point during practice they were doing a lift and the guard instructor told Jared to “drop her” meaning to set her down, but Jared took it literally and Brooke hurt her ankle. She was out a few weeks performing. However, this was good for me because while Jared carried props onto the field before the show, Brooke carried his trumpet. He was in the market for someone else to carry his trumpet and asked me.

This gave us time to hang out and chat before every single show and I remember so many of our conversations from those times. We even got our first picture together (the photo at the top) from that! When Brooke was back performing she said, “Ok I can carry his trumpet now,” and Jared replied, “It’s ok, Sammy’s got it.” I just about died of happiness!! After that, before every show, Jared would say to me, “Don’t drop your flags!” and I would respond, “Don’t drop Brooke!”

Everyone in marching band told me to stay away from Jared and not date him because he was such a player. Clearly, I didn’t listen and I’m glad I didn’t.

I am forever grateful that my mom needed something from Creative Memories, that Mrs. Shirey was the closest rep, that Ryan had his drum out in the living room, that I went with Ryan to his drum lesson one day, that I didn’t make the cheerleading squad, and that Brooke hurt her ankle (even though I felt really bad for her). Because if just one of those things hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

There really must be some invisible string tying us together.