Serendipity got me good last week, smack in the face, out of the blue – as it does. I finished writing a card and couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the back had the company’s headquarters address, a mere 20mn drive away.
This was especially funny to me – and keep in mind I live in New York at the moment – because I received this particular card set, including a journal and a pen, from one of my professors when I graduated over 10 years ago, in California. Obviously, as my friends can tell you, I wasn’t great at correspondence, which is why I still have some left, but I am working on changing that this year, slowly, one card at a time (and who doesn’t like receiving cards?).
What are the odds?
I might be looking for meaning where simple chance played a hand, but. Come on, it’s too good to pass up! What are the chances that a gift from a decade ago now sees me living near its originating point? (Ish, roll with it.)
This isn’t a one off either. Last year (or… 2021? During the pandemic blur), I found books I’d gifted my parents, back in high school it must’ve been, written by an Australian (TCK, by the looks of it) living in Sydney – where I, too, lived for a bit – and the books had been printed in Singapore – where I’d love to move.
I’m sure there are other examples, but the only other one I can think of right now is when I found a… poem, of sorts, that I refuse to believe I wrote (vocabulary wise if nothing else), but the paper says I did, although it’s printed, it’s still my name at the end. This poem was about Japan, and my childhood best friend told me the last time we hung out, many moons ago, that I was very interested (not to use the word ‘passionate’) about Japan when I was younger, and… I mean, I was. In high school and beyond, but I absolutely do not remember that beforehand. But I did learn Japanese, and I did go live in Japan, so. It tracks.
Am I digging for connections and creating meaning out of nothing but coincidences, or am I discovering connections interwoven in the fabric of my life (some of which I have no recollection of)? I’ll go with the latter, thank you very much. For one, I find it amusing to think those small things could be “clues,” if you will, to a cosmic pattern unseen by us, but I also find it comforting somehow. But maybe that’s just me making cozy blankets out of random threads that weave the tapestry of our lives.
Life is weird and magical that way. Or, it can be; I used to feel that more, and I want to feel that way again. Although that’s definitely present in my writing, so even if (or when) reality is less enchanting, at least fiction makes it interesting, or inspiring.
The same thing happens when I reread something I wrote, especially after not touching it for a while, and I’ll be surprised at the themes hiding below the surface, things I didn’t know I was writing. That’s always a fun discovery, finding crumbs you didn’t realize you were dropping, all leading to a path you weren’t aware was there, or weren’t sure would be there.
Having the card revive that warmth, that giddiness about the sheer randomness that is serendipity, chance, whatever, was a reminder I didn’t know I needed – and yes, you bet I’ll be on the lookout for more. That’s not something to force though, it’d be like swimming upstream, and I very much prefer observing the state of things from within – say, a bamboo raft on a river, or pond – or from outside – sitting on the river bank, taking pictures, attempting to sketch the landscape while being devoured by mosquitoes.
Keep an eye out on random occurrences around you, who knows, it might make you smile! 😊
Be well,
Mel
P.S: Yes I will be addressing the changes you might’ve noticed, but it wasn’t time for that post yet. 😉
Melinda's Musings 