Life's Little Puzzle Pieces

It's fun to look back on different events in my life and think about all the little puzzle pieces that had to fall in to place to make that event happen. This picture has a fun little story behind it that started with a little puzzle piece 33 years ago!

I'll start the story in 2006 back when I was tripping all over Scott (literally and figuratively). We signed up to play on an intramural soccer team together at BYU. Sadly the very first game was the only game I would play because I twisted my knee really bad. I thought it was the end of the world because that meant I couldn't run anymore. I believe that was my first thought after, "Oh crap, that hurt and what was that awful nosie?" It seems like most of the big events in life start with a puzzle piece that consists of a trial or a big change that we wouldn't normally choose for ourselves. I guess that just means we have help putting our life's puzzles together from someone much smarter than us. One thing led to another and I ended up on a physical therapy bed in Ned Bushnell's office. I found myself watching the physical therapy techs during my therapy sessions thinking I would enjoy their job much better than my current job as an MTC cafeteria worker. Something about not having to wear a cafeteria apron and not smelling like food after work just seemed appealing to me.

One thing led to another again and the next thing I knew I was working as a physical therapy tech in Ned Bushnell's office. Not only did I have a job that I actually liked, but I realized what I would want to do post-mommy for my career. I worked for Ned the rest of my college career and up until the day before Boston was born. Every Christmas all of Ned's employees were invited to his house for a white elephant Christmas party. The last party I went to I ended up with one of Ned's used elbow braces, and not just any old elbow brace, but a signed elbow brace. It was funny to the techs, but it's kind of an inside joke. Little did I know at the time that that used elbow brace signed by Ned was a key puzzle piece to the fun story behind the above picture.

I stuck the elbow brace in my closet and thought several times that I should just throw it away, but for some reason I never did. Maybe because it was a reminder to me that it's actually possible to like your job and your boss. I loved working for Ned. He was an awesome and inspiring guy.

About a year and a half after that white elephant Christmas party Scott and I were getting ready to move to Texas. I had given my mom a bag of clothes from my closet for D.I. She was looking through them and somehow the elbow brace ended up in that pile. She saw it and asked, "Andrea, who's Ned Bushnell?" I told her he was the physical therapist I worked for. She said, "I think that's the missionary that baptized me!" My mom is a convert and grew up in California. After she said that I remembered Ned mentioning that he served his mission in California. When I told her that she went upstairs to check in her journal. Sure enough Ned Bushnell, my favorite boss, had baptized my mom! Talk about little puzzle pieces coming together!

Since I was moving to Texas in a few days I settled for a text and an email to tell Ned the news my mom and I had just discovered. He emailed back after checking his journal as well and thought that was pretty cool. The puzzle wasn't finished until i came back to Utah this week. My mom and I decided to spend a day in Salem at my aunt's house on Monday, and I thought it would be awesome to go visit Ned while we were in the Provo area. So, 33 years later my mom and Ned Bushnell meet again! And that's the story begind all the little puzzle pieces that came together to make this picture!