Reflections

Serendipity

• By fannieb
• May 27, 2015
• No Comments

Curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back. Perhaps in another lifetime I was a cat for I am very curious and love to learn and understand things. This can be a blessing at times, and a curse at others. Having knowledge, knowing how things work, and how to do things can take you far in life, but sometimes it can get you stuck in needing to know instead of trusting that fate and the powers that be have it all worked out farther than you could ever plan and prepare for at present.

God is the master planner laying down paths for us to follow and putting people in our paths. People who will foster our growth, development, and faith, years before we can understand their import on our lives. As a young adult I went to graduate business school away from my home in New Jersey. The summer before I started I was in search of an apartment and a roommate to share the cost. I remember I was anxious because school would be starting in a little over a month. I, being the planner and the worrier that I was back then, was not in a good state of mind. What if I didn’t find an apartment and a compatible roommate? What then?

My first encounter meeting a potential roommate occurred off of Route 143 in a seedier part of town. The apartment complex was an outgrowth that seemed to sprout from the surrounding dense wood lands and the exterior of the dwellings was dark, almost foreboding. I knocked on the door reluctantly and was greeted by a white man in his late 20s with long brown curly hair. He looked to me to be a hippie of sorts or a rock musician. As he opened the door I first took in my potential roomie and shuddered as I stepped inside the apartment which was also dark, unwelcoming and had an unpleasant musty odor. I saw an aquarium that housed a snake which was curling itself around a branch that was inside the aquarium. I knew instantly that this place would definitely not become my next home, no matter how desperate I felt. As I drove to my next appointment to meet Susan my hope was burning off like a fog meeting the morning rays yet the coolness of the mist and its gloom still shrouded me and my thoughts.

On the other side of town, east of the college, I drove into a grouping of garden apartments each with its own patio or balcony. The area was open and bright and though most of the trees which had been there in earlier times had been removed to make way for these apartment homes, it was not stark. The common areas were well-kept and landscaped with begonias and impatiens. As I pulled into a parking spot at the end of the cul-de-sac my mood was immediately lifted. Perhaps there was hope after all, I thought sighing to release the tension I felt at meeting another stranger who I’d have to size up and decide yay or nay in short order.

I knocked on the door as I straightened my shirt. If she was the right person I wanted to make a good impression. She opened the door and I was immediately relieved. She looked like someone I could relate to. Her warm smile showed genuine friendliness, as if she’d known me for years. “Fran?” She questioned. “Hi, I’m Susan. It’s so nice to meet you.” I stepped inside onto the thick pile wall-to-wall carpeting and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you too, Susan” I said shyly. From the corner of my eye I saw a fluffy buff colored cat slinking over to me in curiosity. I smiled, bent down petting it and asked, “What’s your cat’s name?”

“Oh, this is Bella.” Susan said smiling proudly at her Persian. Then she took me on a brief tour of the two bedroom one bathroom apartment at the end of which she offered me something cold to drink. Susan’s hospitality and soothing demeanor were reassuring and I felt the pressure of finding an apartment melt away. We sat in the living room drinking iced teas and getting to know each other for about 30 minutes. Not a long time, but we both were relieved that the other seemed normal, we thought we’d make a good match as roommates, and so agreed to it. Susan and I lived together for only one year until she graduated. Then I was left to carry on and to find a new roommate for my last year at school.

Susan and I kept in touch sporadically over the 20 years since we parted ways – sending each other Christmas cards and birthday cards and occasionally chatting on the phone to catch up every couple of years or so. In 2013 Susan responded to the birthday card I had sent to her by phoning me. She was excited to tell me that she was back in Virginia, in Richmond to be exact, and would love to catch up.

I was delighted that I’d once again have the opportunity to get to know this good spirit. Years earlier a friendship with great potential had been stunted. Now it was being renewed and showed the promise of filling a void I’d felt over the last few years. Many of my longtime friendships were in states of decline. My friends and I, who had had so much in common in our more youthful years, were growing in different directions and I began to crave the deep connections that I had once shared with them. And my vague friendship with Susan that started in 1992 and which barely had the chance to grow, was about to start flourishing.

Susan was placed in my path when I was young, insecure, and believed that earning my MBA was my ticket to a prestigious career as an executive which would be the key to my happiness. Over the years since I have been cured of this fantasy, yet I have found contentedness on a different path here in Richmond. This was where she reappeared as if by magic 20 years later. My hope was that she would still be as sweet and would still like who I had grown into, my new self, absent of many of my insecurities, and wiser now in the realization that sometimes you have to know and  sometimes you have to trust.

Photo Credit: Jinterwas