So often in these ‘their eyes met across a crowded room’ tales, time is remembered as having slowed, or stopped altogether.
Each and every detail, no matter how apparently trivial, forever captured and held in the cameo-keepsake locket of imagination.
The position of the hands on the nearest clock, say. What the other person was wearing. Were they alone, or with friends?
Or this case, being in Georgia State University campus dining hall, what was on the tray in front of them, right down to the flavour of jam for the toast.
“You know, I don’t actually remember what I was eating,’’ Nick Arbuckle confesses, “because the moment I saw her, the food didn’t matter.
“I do remember I was rushing, getting through breakfast, worried about being late to class. Then she walked in. I’d never seen her before. And suddenly I was perfectly fine with being late to class.
“I waited for her to sit down so I could go over and tell her how beautiful she was.”
Just like that? Right away?
“Right away.
“And then I walked away.”
Rather than summon campus security, Zakiyyah Shabazz found herself intrigued.
“I was late for class, too, I’d gone in for something quick, a take-away, a sausage-biscuit or something, and I saw him looking at me,’’ she recalls.
“So I kinda filled my plate to give myself an excuse to sit down.”
Zakiyyah called the departing Arbuckle back and has been at his side ever since, sharing his mini-camp disappointments with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the B.C. Lions through to here with the Calgary Stampeders, forever supportive, always ready to listen.
The couple were married this past March.
While Arbuckle chased his pro football dream, staying in shape, sharpening the tools he’d need to someday fulfill his ambition, Zakiyyah worked three jobs: Teaching English to children based in China mornings, online; teaching in a classroom setting part-time during the day and later working at an escape room, often until midnight.
That doesn’t, she’s quick to point out, transform her into her a saint.
“Kind of taxing but I loved all three jobs,’’ she says. “And if you love what you’re doing, everything’s fine.”
Understand, Zakiyyah can claim to be more fiercely supportive of her hubby than even (l to r) Derek Dennis, Shane Bergman, Ucambre Williams, Ryan Sceviour and Nila Kasitati, collectively (and that, be reminded, translates into 1,646 pounds of support).
The long wait since his college days QBing the Georgia State Panthers to find a pro home has included it’s share of frustrating moments.
“I think the most challenging time for me was when he got the call from B.C., and told he hadn’t made the team,’’ reckons Zakiyyah. “Because by that point, I’d seen him put everything he seemingly had left into this opportunity.
“He was always working out, even when he wasn’t with a team. When he got the call from B.C., he wasn’t in tip-top football shape and he shed 20 pounds in two weeks, completely changed his diet, was working out almost 24/7.
“I felt great about it, he felt great about it.
“Then the call came.
“It wasn’t what we wanted, or expected, to hear.
“And it just felt like everything got dark because I didn’t know how to comfort him in that situation. The other times, it was like: ‘It’s okay. There’ll be another chance’. But he’d put the most into this opportunity that I’d seen.
“Just hearing that ‘No’, I didn’t know what to do.
“So I prayed about it.”
The very next day the phone rang. Someone named Dave Dickenson was on the line from Calgary.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” marvels Arbuckle. “When that B.C. call came to be at mini-camp, I was working out but also working for a pool-cleaning company and eating at the gas station twice a day, every day.
“So I was in shape but obviously not the best shape.
“I quit my job when I to be in the best condition for that mini-camp. Then when it didn’t happen I was unemployed and we weren’t sure if that would be my last football opportunity.
“But looking back, when you think about it, if I hadn’t gotten the chance at the B.C. camp I would’ve been eating at a gas station for another month and as it happened Dave called a few days before training camp opened here. So the opportunity B.C. gave me got me ready for the opportunity here.
“It couldn’t have worked out better, really.”
Coming from Georgia, the couple has adapted well to the pace and feel of Calgary.
“It was hard originally, at the beginning of last year, because Zakiyyah wasn’t here,’’ admits Arbuckle. “We still had our apartment in Atlanta. We weren’t able to sub-lease it until August, so she came up for the last half of the season. When she got here, everything was great.
“We lived in downtown Calgary. It’s beautiful here. The experience has been incredible for both of us. We’ve talked, often, about what a blessing it’s been. The people. The culture. We’ve loved being here.”
Zakiyyah was born into an army family, so transitioning to a new city hasn’t been difficult. Outside of the often unpredictably cool weather, naturally.
The Arbuckle saga has the most compelling hereabouts in the early going of 2019. Hopping off the bench when Bo Levi Mitchell was injured late in the B.C. home game to engineer a crazy comeback victory, subsequent Ws at the helm at Saskatchewan and last week against Toronto.
“I don’t know if you can tell, but Nick doesn’t really wear his emotions on his sleeve,’’ says Zakiyyah.
“I do that for him.
“Whenever he’s in there, I’m kinda screaming in the stands. Especially in that game against B.C. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that much, or that loud, before.”
Thursday at TD Place in our nation’s capital, Nick Arbuckle aims for his third win as a CFL starting pitcher. He’s living his dream. And his wife/partner/best friend/primary support system is living it, too – not vicariously, but alongside him.
“She’s been incredible in all the tough moments,’’ says Arbuckle. “To know I had the love and support, no matter what, meant … everything. Whether I made it, whether I didn’t, we were going to find a way, we were going to be okay.
“There’ve been so many situations that we just took leaps of faith in trying to figure things out.
“And it’s turned out great. Here we are.
“I’m a lucky guy.
“Guess I made the right choice.”
So, the two of them are out to prove, together, did the Stampeders.