Serendipity

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

"a fortunate stroke of serendipity"

Sometimes, life gives you lemonade. Sometimes the lemonade came from nowhere. Other times it was all because of the lemons and you didn't even have to make it yourself.
Living in the moment offers each of us the ability to do now what we see to be the best use of our time and energy. Occasionally looking back we can see that if A didn't happen, B probably never would have happened either.  A basic Truth regarded by folks with such hindsight is known as Serendipity. Often shrouded in chance or a stroke of luck, the serendipitous can go overlooked in our every day lives.
A friend recently told a story about stopping to view and photograph a rainbow before driving home. On that drive that followed, they saw that an accident had occurred moments before they arrived at the scene. In some respects they were blessed with the Fortune of not being involved in the accident on account of their "stopping to smell the roses". On the other hand, in a very Matrix-like way, would their presence at the scene have been enough to stop the accident from occurring at all? We will never know. 
What isn't really discussed is that sometimes the events that set life in motion in a way that is beneficial for us, aren't always "happy accidents." We've all seen the movies that portray the folks who happen upon an instance that changes their day or their life. Examples can be seen in several romantic comedies with Meg Ryan. The same can be said of action adventures like the Christmas movie, Die Hard. Sure the sequals lead to other plots and story lines, but John McLean happened upon circumstances that lead him back into the arms of his uncertain but loving wife and made him a hero. Would this be touted as serendipity? Maybe so... From the viewpoint of Hans Gruber, not so much. His plans were foiled, his crew members killed one by one, and eventually he plummeted off the Winter River Bridge...Scratch that, the side of the Nakatomi building.
Forest Gump concludes that he doesn't "know if we each have a destiny, or if we 're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both."
My summer adventure that has been waiting for me turned out to be very different than I had planned.  This past spring, an event occurred that changed the trajectory of my path. A co-worker, who normally works in my stead during the summer months, suddenly passed away. His death set in motion a very different plan for my future. I was now expected to be back at work for at least several weeks during the summer season.
This changed my plans which actually allowed me the opportunity to attend one of my best friend's wedding, meet her future husband before they were wed, visit with friends I haven't seen in quite some time, spend a few glorious days in Asheville with other great friends and I was still able to complete most of the projects I had planned for upgrading and improving my machine. Then when another tragedy occurred, we were able to offer our condolences and attend a beautiful end of life celebration. Tears were shed with a family of perfect strangers who have shown incredible strength, loving hearts and that they really are just amazing human beings. I am sorry for their loss but I am also grateful for their friendship.
The loss of life, any life, is tragic. Death is a part of life that none of us will avoid. When the loss is that of a beautiful young woman's life, one which was really just beginning to take shape, it is terrible, sad, tragic, horrible, and gut wrenching. I feel honored to have been able to participate and share stories, laughter, and tears with them.
The wedding was also a wonderful experience. We celebrated love, ate like Kings and Queens, shared stories of our lives and laughed late into the night with a family that will always be dear to my heart.
In Asheville I was able to spend time with a beautiful young mother and her child. We went and saw live music, swam in a community pool, ate incredible home cooked food and went for a great hike in the mountains. We visited more friends in a nearby town and sipped on bourbon, drank some wine and listened to great music. I was also blessed with the opportunity to eat with my other friends at a tapas place. Yes, it is tapas, not topless. Small plates of food came to the table in endless succession. I have not had such a variety of food in my life. I even tried octopus! I have been blessed to enjoy and experience the fullness of food, love and friendship. The first leg of this adventure ended in Florida. There I spent time tinkering with van stuff and working on cars and vans. We installed new canvas tops, repaired rust, painted, installed a new anti-sway bar and did some engine rebuilding and transmission repair. We started to install front air conditioning but time was cut short and I had to leave for NY.
Another aspect to the Florida trip is time spent with family and friends. Spending Father's day with my dad and my brother and my nephew out on the boat catching fish, including several sharks, ranks near the top of my list of fun in the sun. We ate several meals together and I was also able to see my Gramma too. The friends I have in Florida are dear to my heart and I am grateful for the time spent with them. I also made new friends this year by attending several Volkswagen related events and we talked vans, travel and other VW related topics. It was a pleasure to meet new people and I look forward to seeing them again. How much of this would have happened, the way it happened, if I didn't have to get back to NY for work? Then, when I went back to NY for my sister's birthday I was able to spend more time with my new hiking friends from Trail Days. We ate pizza, shared in making home cooked meals, hiked up Anthony's nose, and avoided hiking in the heavy rains taking zero days and binge-watching Netflix, eating ice cream and cookies. The adventures shared with these great new friends are just the type of things that forge lifelong friendships. I am eternally grateful for these moments.
Laughter, tears, heartache, pain, struggles, anger, frustration, long days, hot days, dripping sweat in the shop and burning my skin in the sun... Worth it all. Just keep on trucking because you never know what lies around the bend.