Reading · Your Best Life Made Easy™: Thriving After 50

Photo Credit: Diana

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It’s one of those days. I’m feeling like the great Yankee pitcher Sparky Lyle did on some pitching days as shared in his book The Bronx Zoo that was always on my late Dad’s bookshelf.

“I didn’t have squat.”

But he still tried to make the most of his pitching outing.

I’m out doing one of my run/walk interval sessions and I’m definitely on the struggle bus but trying to make the most of my outing too.

Just as I am about to throw in the towel and give myself permission to try to get through that last interval in my training another day, my Running playlist on shuffle throws me a lifeline and plays:

Push it to the Limit - the Giorgio Moroder composed track sung by Paul Engemann from the 1983 Scarface Soundtrack.
Followed by, and I kid you not, Cher’s 1998 Believe.

My playlist was set to shuffle, but this seemed far from a random occurrence.

It was as if the universe had sensed I wasn’t going to get through this run/walk session without some kind of extra help.

I got through my training session and those two songs have never played together as a combination while on shuffle since.

Those are the moments that make you stop and take notice.

What just happened?

Serendipity took over as my DJ!

When my husband got a job offer that would take us to Orange County, CA as our first move out of New York City, I didn’t immediately join him. It was still fairly early in our careers, and we wanted to be smart financially. I needed to find a job in California before I gave up the one I had.

Remote work wasn’t yet a thing. Although ultimately I took the initiative to become a pioneer, and was my organization’s first ever telecommuter (today known as woring remote), effectively becoming one of the very first digital nomads.

But before that I took a trip out for some interviews I had set up pre-move. Since this was in the dark ages before phone and car navigation when you had to use that ancient paper thing we called a map, getting around was no easy task. I was constantly making u-turns in the rental car.

At day’s end, I was trying really hard to find my hotel without any luck, so I pulled into a gas station at the edge of a small shopping plaza in a beautiful palm tree-lined area to ask directions. A few minutes later, I successfully got where I was going after I realized I was on the wrong side of the 405 freeway.

Fast forward a month. Our temporary relocation housing was due to run out soon so I was back in Orange County apartment hunting. I found the perfect place for us with a cool loft and a big deck with an open view of more palm trees, and the mountains in the distance.

We were on the border of Irvine where it meets Newport Beach, so we just eked out a Newport Beach address by a couple of blocks. Trust me, while it was way nicer than New York, it was not that level of Newport Beach like you see in movies or on television. We didn’t have that kind of money!

Coming out of the development, I took the opposite way out to see what else was in the area since it was all new to me. About a mile up the road past the community, it emptied out into a small strip center. As I pulled through the opening of the center, deja vu started to hit and suddenly to the left, I saw the gas station at the edge of the center where I pulled into for directions the month before.

I had come in the back way to the shopping center. It hit me that we were going to be living about a mile away from where I first landed in Orange County.

What are the odds knowing nothing about the area?

Serendipity chose our new place to live!

Photo Credit: Leeloo The First

As I’ve previously shared, one of the things I’ve been doing since January to do some good in my community and meet some new people as part of my “let’s make some more 50+ friends before we retire one day” initiative, is volunteering at my local food pantry bi-weekly. I had talked quite a bit with one of the women who also was volunteering and then I didn’t see her for a bit.

I had a busy day job day and unusual for me was that it was late afternoon and I hadn’t been out for a walk or run break yet, so I decided to at least take a short walk to a local store since we were out of bananas for the morning.

As I was walking, I saw a woman walking her dog approaching. I didn’t think much of it since the dog didn’t appear to be the type that could star in Stephen King’s Cujo that required me needing to cross to the other side of the street.

Our eyes smiled “hi” to each other and we each kept going until I heard “Melanie?”

I know very few people locally here in Chicagoland, and I never run into them anywhere out of the blue, so I was a bit startled. Only two people I know have a dog as well.

She called my name again. As I turned to look her way, she added “it’s Marsha!" (name changed so I don’t have to get a release).

I looked closer and it was my food pantry colleague!

It turned out she had some things come up that had kept her from volunteering a couple of stints, and we had never exchanged phone numbers since we were just starting to get to know each other, so she couldn’t reach me. She shared she was so glad she ran into me as she thought we might not cross paths again.

Marsha lived a good two plus miles away so the odds of us bumping into each other in our densely populated urban suburban area from her walking her dog were not high. She shared that it was only recently that her back felt better so she could walk her furry buddy Joey (I changed her dog’s name too just for good measure), as far as my condo complex.

We exchanged phone numbers right then and there so we would be sure to be connected regardless of food pantry volunteering. Since then, we’ve met a couple of times for some walks with Joey, and I imagine when the heat breaks and the air is clear more regularly we will connect again.

Serendipity kindled the start of a new friendship!

Photo Credit: AnnH

I find instances of serendipity fascinating. There have been so many that have led to some very interesting life circumstances along the way. The examples I’ve shared are just the tip of the iceberg and I love noticing them.

It also often leaves me with a feeling of wonder.

How are some of these things even possible?

Did I put myself in a position for them to happen?

What if I had made a slight alteration like a movie with a time travel element? Would the result be the same?

For example, if I was motoring through my running session with ease, would the same song combo had come up? If I had turned into a different gas station in Orange County, would I have been living elsewhere? If I had walked at my typical lunchtime would I have still run into Marsha and Joey?

I think when it comes to these situations, we can simply enjoy them as invitations to stop what we’re doing for a moment, take notice of our world and perhaps even let a little serendipity work its magic and be our guide.

Wishing you maximum health and happiness always!

P.S. What’s an example of a serendipity experience you’ve had that you don’t mind sharing?

Please comment. I imagine all of you have experienced this at some point. Let’s hear yours!

The Magic of Serendipity

Photo Credit: Diana

Photo Credit: Leeloo The First

Photo Credit: AnnH

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