"Action!"

Dear Ashley,

I can't imagine you would remember the moment you changed my life, but you did. The moment itself was unremarkable, dreary even. Perhaps that's why I was waiting for my mom inside the cafeteria after school, as opposed to outside on the concrete steps. It was in that mundane moment that you tipped the first domino in a long, intricate, path to my future.

I spotted you at a table with rented High School tech equipment; a blue, early 2000s Macbook. They were a big deal then. We struck up a conversation about how you came to have such a sweet piece of tech in your possession.

You lit up.

I had never known you to be so passionate about anything. You explained the TV class you were taking and how it had inspired you to become a film director. I listened to you excitedly ramble about what paths to take after high school. You considered going to film school or getting an apartment in LA.

Film. That was a whole new career path. Ask anyone at that time and they wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, or movie star, but not behind the camera. People don't see behind that lens, and therefore it never crossed my brilliant mind as an option.

It was art without being in the spotlight. It was skill without the drama of life hanging in the balance. It was creativity and science. It was beautiful.

The next semester I took TV and fell in love. I wrote, directed, created, and edited stories through film. I realized the power of relaying a message to the masses. I got my first taste of watching an audience respond to my work. Your suggestion put my butt in a seat in a room where I could learn and fall in love with a medium that would change my life.

I pursued film in college. To participate in the camp videos our college produced (my dream,) I was required to join the tech team and learn audio production as well.

It was in the tech booth at the very first tech team meeting that I met my husband. We spent many classes in that booth, side by side, running sound, filming classes for absent students, or projecting PowerPoint on the screen. It was in that booth we passed notes, gave each other knowing looks, and laughed together.

When it finally came time to create videos, I spent many late nights in the video room editing. He brought me sweedish fish, he watched movies with me and my video team partners while we batched hundreds of DVDs for campers. It was in that tech room that I fell asleep sitting on a couch next to him and realized I never felt more at home.

He signed my yearbook in that tech room before we were meant to be separated by distance, "I will see you again." That is when I knew we were more than friends.

I fell in love with my husband because I was pursuing a passion that was first ignited by you.

The rehearsal dinner for my wedding took place at my husband's and my favorite restaurant. It had been a couple of years since you and I had our conversation. I had lost track of you and didn't know if you had gone on to LA to become a director.

You hadn't. Turns out, you were a waitress at the restaurant where our rehearsal dinner was to be, and you were our waitress. My husband and I shared with you how your advice led to me meeting him. It was serendipitous.

I thanked you then, however, it bears repeating. Thank you.

Because I married the man I married, I have changed for the better. I have become more tolerant, compassionate, and kind. We have embarked on new paths neither of us would have followed had we not influenced each other. I would not live where I live, or have the children I have, had I not met him. I would not have met him if you had not shared your passion with me that dreary day.

To my knowledge, neither you nor I have become great film directors. However, you directed what matters most to me. You directed my path. You were the director of my life's movie. No matter where you are or what you are doing now, I hope that gives you joy.