Serendipity

The act of finding something good without looking for it.

Today is my lucky day. Well, it truth, they’re all pretty lucky in one way or another.  I bought a scratch off ticket today and won $25.  I’ve never won more than $5 on those stupid things!  But today I knew I would, because today was a lucky day.  I signed the lease for my new apartment today.  And everything felt just right.  I found this incredible place to live in Chatham.  It’s the back of an old 1700’s farm house.  The owners live in the front and they have been very welcoming to us.  Actually, everywhere we go in Chatham, people have been particularly nice! But I wasn’t looking to move to Chatham.  Everyone that knows me knows that I have been determined to move to the Adirondack Mountains. I have loved those mountains with a defiantly passionate heart for about 30 years.  I have taken a breath in the mountain air and felt the true peace of home.  I have shared the Adirondacks with people that I love and I have lost my heart in those mountains several times. I knew that I needed to be there all the time… until I just couldn’t.  You see, my dogged attempts to move there continued to present with one problem after another. I found some great places to live but each time it came down to the wire, something changed, rent increases, unreasonable leases arrangements, and too many compromises. I realized that the Universe was trying to tell me something.  After being frustrated in my quest and really not knowing what to do next, I decided that sometimes, maybe, we don’t choose the road.  The road chooses you.  I threw up my arms and asked the powers that be to guide my path.  I looked on the Albany Craigslist, for some unknown reason, and found this place. I went to see it and the world around me just clicked. It felt right, very right.  So Chatham it is. 

Serendipity.. the act  of finding something good without looking for it. I have always believed that I was the master of my own destiny.  I was in charge of how my life would take shape.  (Well, clearly, I have not been in control of all aspects of my life!!). But in general, I think we have the power to make things happen..  or do we?  Is it serendipity or fate?  Do we have a choice or is the road we take set out before us?  Are we offered the possibilities of free will only to decide what ultimately brings us closest to our desires?  A good friend once talked to me of serendipity.  I thought of Serendipity as beautifully colored fish shaped opportunities swimming by, just waiting for me to pluck them from the air and begin new adventures. But has every fish that I have chosen, already had my name on it? For the lessons that I must learn while I am here?  Serendipity versus Fate?   (and that’s not even taking into account the not so good things that happen. .. bad decision or karma?)   Is it one or the other or is it just happenstance, coincidence, stuff? I think for a little while, I’m going to take a deep breath and relax!  I’m going to stop working so hard to make my puzzle pieces fit this self-made-up puzzle called my life.

 Chatham ,    I’m game.