I have experienced serendipity throughout my life and each encounter has come with a profound lesson.
I suspect this phenomenon is no stranger to many of you. After all, isn’t serendipity just a one-word expression for “How in the hell did that just happen?” (opens in a new tab)
The universe seems to be constructed in such a way as to keep its deepest secrets from us. Then, with no warning, when we least expect it, a secret—revealed.
Let me share one particularly memorable encounter with serendipity.
I was at one of the lowest points in my life. My young marriage had dissolved, I was 25 and deeply miserable. I felt like a man entirely cut off from his future.
Then, fate introduced me to a guy named Geoff.
For the next five years, Geoff became a great friend. He was instrumental in helping me get back on my feet. His spirit and my spirit were connected like Laurel and Hardy, or Abbott and Costello.
Over the course of those five years we had a lot of laughs, always finding ways to turn lemons into lemonade.
Now, because I met Geoff more than ten years before I met up with sobriety, it’s a pretty safe guess that we were drinking more than just lemonade.
A lot more.
Geoff and I had many, many frolicking nights at places like
- the Emerald Isle,
- the Dubliner,
- the Irish Times,
and about a hundred other haunts across our fruited plain.
Then one day the party was over.
Soon Geoff moved on, married Kay—the love of his life—raised two wonderful children, and enjoyed a successful business career, just as his father and grandfather had before him.
Over the next 36 years, we saw each other only on rare occasions. The intensity of that six-year run became simply a happy memory of two crazy young guys relishing their youth.
Then, Kay’s mother, Betty, died. Betty was a wonderful woman who played an important role in an earlier chapter in my life when she had been a kind of surrogate mother to me.
At her funeral, I encountered Geoff—this time in tears. His tears came from the deep sadness of losing not only his mother-in-law, but also his brother, Rob. Marsha and I stood before him as two old friends reconnecting after more than three decades.
And as it happened, Betty’s funeral took place on the exact day—indeed, the very hour—that my own brother, Kevin, died.
How could this be?
Two old friends who were first connected in a time of sadness were reconnected in a time of sadness. How perfectly fitting.
What came out of that encounter was all the more serendipitous, for it was through the tireless efforts of Geoff and his son-in-law, Mati Caccionne, that the website Just a Thought was born.
The lesson I learned from this moment is that the universe has a way of providing you with exactly what you need, right when you need it.
My job is to show up and be ready to receive from life what I’m looking for—even when I don’t realize it’s exactly what I’m looking for.
Just a thought…
Pat
💐
Now let me share a musical thought on Serendipity from another fraternity brother of mine —
singer, songwriter, civil engineer — Bela Varga.
Bela has traveled the world and drunk deeply from the wisdom wells of many cultures.
Enjoy his song, “Serendipity.” (Lyrics below)
Lyrics
Serendipity is life’s subtle guide you never see,
Turning every twist of fate into the way things ought to be.
She whispers ever so gentle and softly,… “Come with me”,
Then suddenly the whole world is full of new possibilities.
[Verse 1]
To get to the ashram in India, I flew from Jaipur to Bombay,
There was only one other person on the small plane that day.
“Where are you from?”…I asked as the clouds slowly passed by,
“From Seattle, Queen Anne Hill, Dravus Street”…was his reply.
His home was only two blocks from my house in Seattle, unbelievable!
The term “It’s a small world” that is far from home was not applicable.
We were both astonished and amazed at the odds of our encounter,
I started to realize the magic and mystery of India were like no other.
[Chorus 1]
Serendipity found me where no map could ever lead,
Planting the seeds of faith I never knew I would need.
She whispered, “Venture a little farther, don’t be afraid to see…”,
Doors began to open long before they became visible to me.
[Verse 2]
Met an Englishman at the ashram Sandeepany Sadhanalaya,
A Japanese Zen Master sent him to India to find Swami Dayananda.
He searched in every temple and holy spot throughout the land,
Finally he ended his hunt for the Swami he’d never seen firsthand.
In a village high in the Himalayas, he stopped to spend the winter,
There he met a holy man, spending all their waking hours together.
One day, he asked his friend if he knew a Swami named Dayananda,
Lo and Behold, the Holy Man said… “THAT Swami…is THIS Swami”.
[Chorus 2]
Serendipity came walking down a road he didn’t choose,
Leaving the gift of grace when he had nothing left to lose.
Serendipity is magic and fate choosing you on a whim,
A sudden spark of fortune just when the lights grow dim.
[Verse 3]
Before I left his ashram, I was blessed with a farewell from Swamijee,
“If you find Ram Dass” he asked, “give him a message from me”.
In Agra, I learned Ram Dass would be at the fest at Kumbh Meli,
A sacred spiritual event, a gathering occurring once every century.
Pilgrims, saints, profits and sages, everyone searching endlessly,
I abandoned my quest, lost among the millions in a sea of humanity,
At least I was able to deliver a letter from a young boy to his family,
Across the street was the home of Ram Dass’ guru calling to me!
[Final Chorus]
Serendipity took me where no map could ever lead,
A kind gift of mercy in the very hour of my greatest need.
Serendipity gently took my hand when I had lost my way,
Revealing every “accident” was purpose in disguise that day.
[Outro]
Serendipity whispers, “You don’t have to understand,”
Sometimes heaven writes its answers with an unseen hand.
Looking back on all my travels and many dreams,
I learned nothing is ever as accidental as it seems.
Serendipity ~ Serendipity