One Memorable Day

I just started reading David Nicholls' One Day, a novel that chronicles one couple's relationship over twenty years.  The book begins with July 15, 1993, the first day the couple met, and then checks in on them on each July 15 for the next two decades.

The reviews I've read are excellent, but on the first page of the book is the following Charles Dickens quote from Great Expectations.  Before I even started chapter 1, I knew I was hooked.

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

Ohhhh, how I love this idea, this truth!  That one day - one memorable day - can surprise you and change the course of your life forever.

The day I received a big white envelope with a red stripe in the corner from the UGA Admissions office

The day I bought a one way ticket from ATL to LGA

The day I filled out an application to work at Chick-fil-A

And you start to wonder.  What if that day is today?  Or tomorrow?  Or the day after that?  Or next Friday? 

Any day, including today, could be that one memorable day.

I love that.