My life is defined by a series of very narrow misses.

Once upon a time, 17-year old Lauren saw this boy on the Hollywood round of American Idol, about to perform "Heaven."

Saw him smile and knew he was a keeper. 

EVEN before I heard him sing or knew he was Mormon.
Completely convinced my AP English class that we were going to end up together. (After all, Katie Holmes married Tom Cruise, her short celebrity crush.)


Through the years and other boys, he never really went away. Sophomore year of college we had a wall adorned with pictures of all our missionaries... and this:

 

My friend Mehlanie added the post-it. A classic touch. Can't remember where the boutonniere came from.

 I've had lots of experiences where friends-of-friends will tell me they know him, or have seen him in Old Navy or the Provo temple. And lots of dreams where we meet on a train or something and end up being really good chums.  I about died when my friend Garrett got to interview him for BYU.

Because despite the whole, 'I'm in college and you're a pop star' thing, we are BASICALLY the same person. For example, my standard cheesy-picture face is always flashing the thumbs-up:

 

I too love Santa, argyle and ugly sweaters!!

 

AND I love singing and messy fohawks.

Then came this summer. I had planned out my gig at Stadium of Fire months in advance. I knew if I could just TALK to him for five minutes he would most likely fall in love with me and ask for my number... if not just take me with him on the tour bus. 

 Rocking the press pass. It's a definite perk of the job.

I was so excited to get this interview. I worked all the southern charm I had in me and talked to all the security guards, backup dancers, managers, members of his family in the VIP seating, etc. I had at LEAST 25 different people tell me no. It was so fun, I really wasn't disappointed at all. Ironically, I was oozing out so much charm that I inadvertently got two other dates out of that evening... but they were not with David Archuleta.

 The fact remains that we still have yet to meet.

He showed up to hear Imagine Dragons play in downtown Provo at the beginning of September. I WAS AT THAT CONCERT!!! Seriously, where was I here?!


And he'll be performing in Salt Lake on December 19th. But alas, I will be in Kentucky, where I know no one outside my immediate family. 


THEN YESTERDAY. 


I desperately needed a nap; I had an hour before class; It was so nice and warm outside. I settled down on my favorite little hill between the Brimhall Building and the testing center, put on my sunglasses and pulled out my book so people would think I was studying (or at least, that I had started out that way.)

45 minutes later, I find myself on my stomach, sunglasses lying askew in the grass, with my leg projecting out like I was a dog urinating on some local shrubbery. I crack open my eyes just in time to see the boy walking past tilt his head and give me a look that said, "You are kind of strange."
I sat up really quickly because that. boy. was. David. Archuleta. 
Admittedly, I know I wasn't fully awake yet- and I know that the academic road isn't really his thing so the chances he was on campus with a backpack are kind of slim- but SERIOUSLY. I wanted to call out "No, wait! I am normal! I just haven't gotten any sleep in two days!" As if he didn't think I was weird enough already. He was already speeding down the hill to go home. 

Oh, David. Four years later, you are still so my type. And such a good dresser.

 

The Other Game Plan

"Oh, broadcast? That's so fun!"

Yes, for sure. For everything the program is and isn't (including the mandatory haircut that killed my dating life for about a year), broadcast is pretty fun. Your labs involve latex gloves and math. My labs involve being on TV. Your internships involve sitting at a desk, sorting mail for your congressman. Mine involve football.

But then comes the follow-up question:
"What do you want to do with that?"

I thought about that a lot this August. I mean, a LOT. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really had no idea.  Luckily, a woman like me always has a plan- even if that plan is based on nothing more than Socratic logic. 

The Plan*: 
Have a great senior year. ("When do you graduate?" uhh... good question. August? maybe?)
Have lots of fun. (So far: check and check.)
Don't over-analyze things. (Actually, it's easier than it sounds when you just refuse to worry.)

THEN- 
In April- because that's still a few months before graduation-  I will start praying. Really, really hard. For a good job, or further educational opportunity, or C) none of the above. 
Anything really- just to know what my next step should be. Just to figure out the right path. 

 "Or do you still wait for me, Dream-Giver?"

And then something really really good will happen!

Even when I write this out, it sounds pretty cavalier. Explained aloud, I tell this story (like all stories) with a lot of animation. You think I'm kidding... but I am actually completely serious. 
A lot of people I know would probably call this kind of thinking foolish, unprepared, naive. I'm not denying that I'm not all of those things. But this kind of Hellen-Kellering my way through the dark has another name, too. It's called faith.  
And frankly, right now that's all I've got. So that is what I am sticking with!


I think Walt Disney has my back on this one...

Pocahontas didn't know what she was doing either. She was just running around barefoot picking some corn, talking to trees and and avoiding relationships with the hot warriors in her tribe.

 Look at her. She was nuts. 

But all she had to do was wait for a while and follow her dreams- which led her to meet John Smith, help out the settlers, and save her people from war with a technologically-advanced enemy!

At least... until John Smith went back to England and she was captured and married someone else and her people eventually all died of smallpox and on the Trail of Tears. 

 That sound you hear is my metaphor crumbling down around me. 

*Haha. No, but really. I am thrilled with my game plan and I am sticking to it. 
What is the "other" one, you ask? Just go down this rabbit hole to find out!