Serendipity....it's one of the reasons why life can be so surprising and wonderful. Of course, to be prepared for serendipity to strike you, you need to be open to new experiences and people, even if they are beyond the usual ones.
Let me give you an example. This past weekend I had been out, running errands, so when my stomach reminded me around 1:30 pm that it needed attention, I stopped at a little restaurant in the shopping mall. It was one of those that is more like a kiosk surrounded by streams of shoppers and concrete. As usual, I ordered a coffee and a light lunch, and as usual, I sat alone to people-watch.
Halfway through my panini, an older gentleman caught my eye and walked over to the table. It was obvious he had been shopping; there were bags in his hands. My first thought was that he had a favour to ask. Normally, I would have tried to keep the conversation short since he was a stranger. After all, what do you say to a complete stranger?!
There was no need to worry--he immediately launched into a conversation by asking me what my favourite flower was. Intrigued to have met a fellow gardener, I answered, "Peonies and lilacs". That is when the surprise began. Instead of comparing the relative merits of compost, he said, "Those are both lovely flowers, all right, but the most beautiful of all is a woman."
Oh no, I thought to myself, an aging Lothario... But he genuinely only seemed to want to spread happiness and went on to tell me of how he often stopped couples with the same question, leaving the wife smiling and pleased, and the husband looking at her in a new light.
We chatted for a bit more about gardening and gladioli and then we each went our own way. I was smiling inside--instead of having to fend off rude pushy strangers, I'd had a very pleasant conversation with an friendly eighty-five-year-old man. I'd like to think that he too went away with a new spring in his step.
And that is the joy of serendipity....
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