My Destiny was written for the First Dance at Christy & Scott’s wedding in January 2018. ( I hope you saw the dance…it was classic.)

The story behind the writing of My Destiny is a swirl of emotions, life-altering events and the courage and will to move forward through pain to growth.

Christy married Jonathan Taggart in 2015 in a beautiful, joyful ceremony, dance and reception bringing together two relatively unknown families, and many friends. The young couple actually knew each other in high school and, if I’m not mistaken, Jonathan asked Christy out and she declined.

They were happy together. But there was a slow-growing physical issue Jonathan was not dealing with and within seven months of their wedding day, Jonathan died of kidney and liver failure in 2016. Everyone was taken completely by surprise and the shock was profound for Christy.

Over the course of the next couple of years, Christy struggled with the loss of Jonathan as well as the anger that was at times overwhelming and immobilizing. But she wandered through the chaos, determined to learn what it all meant.

Her determination and deep self-awareness led to a mildly peaceful understanding. Christy said to me, “I believe Jonathan was sent to me to teach me how to live and I, to help him to die.” With that insightful belief, Christy continued to slowly grow in strength and beauty and move forward.

More time passed until one day, Christy and I were together and she said to me, “Dad, I think it’s time for me to open up my life and my heart to whatever lies ahead.” I remember we cried together.

As Christy later told me; it was within weeks of the day she had decided to “open my heart to sharing my life again” that she “literally almost bumped into” a young man named Scott Miller who, as it turned out, lived in the same complex. They recognized each other as, you guessed it…classmates, in high school.

“I believe it was destiny,” Christy told me. One thing led to many others and in January 2018, Christy and Scott Miller were married.

Epilogue: This was one of the “easiest” songs for me to write for three reasons…

1. Christy’s inspirational strength, insight, and emotional courage
2. The absolute delightful connection between her choice to move forward and her meeting Scott
3. I wrote the song knowing that only Kelli could tell the story and make it come to life. (I thank thee, MyKelli)