Serendipity — I

A fortunate happystance.

December 2013. She receives her acceptance letter. To a program where only about 7% applicants make it through. Ecstatic. She knows this opportunity is going to be the game changer in her life.

April 2014. Butterflies in her stomach. Seems to be a countless number of them inside as the day draws near. In less than a month she is going to embark on a journey that she has very little information about. Daunting? Maybe. Scared? A little. But second guessing her decision? Not a second chance.

Early May 2014. That day has arrived. A new city, a new home, for the next 5 weeks. And about 300 strangers to keep her company. Not a situation she is comfortable about. But that is the challenge right? Or so she convinces herself.

Mid May 2014. Overwhelmed. So much information. So much learning. So many experiences. In such a short time. She has found her comfort zone, both in the place and in certain people. Finally, a settling feeling seems to be at the horizon. She has found her groove and is clear on her plan ahead.

End May 2014. The plan goes kaput. The place of comfort has to be left behind for a new city altogether. The people have to be left behind too. Or rather they left her behind. Confused? Very. Angry? Very. An ideal time to reach out for help you’d think. But her ego tells her otherwise. She will make it on her own.

Early June 2014. Too many things happening too fast. New city. New job. New life. No home. No friends. But she had her ego and we all know what great company that is. So great that there’s very little room to reach out to an acquaintance who can probably help her. Why go through the trouble of interacting with a fellow human who you don’t know, and more importantly did not try to get to know, when you had an opportunity. Hard to overlook such a valid argument, isn't it?

A week later, 2014. After a long day of teaching, she finds herself in the local train station, waiting to board the 2 hour ride to her current accommodation. Still homeless and clueless, she seems to be answering the typical existential questions that run through her head. When she spots the acquaintance. A short distance from her. Waiting to board the same train.

*insert inappropriate colloquial expression.*

Internal alarm bells go off. But the moment to mingle had come. Awkward pleasantries exchanged, train boarded, attempts to fill awkward silences with awkward fillers. Well, it was pretty awkward.

Things only got better when a friendly policeman told us that we had actually boarded the wrong train. Our only hope was to get off at the next station and wait for the next train that comes in to take us to our shared destination.

*insert inappropriate colloquial expression for the second time.*

As we disembarked and walked towards a lone bench on the platform, we had clearly run out of topics in our humble attempt to avoid bringing up the fact that we needed each others help. Tow egos were at play, but it was now time to address the elephant in the room. At a deserted train station.

And we did.

And suddenly everything fell into place.

Very shortly, I had a home. Even sooner, I had friends. And in no time, I had a family.

Serendipity.

Funnily enough, I had always associated this term with romance. A whimsical fantasy set in winter. (Yes, I do watch a lot of movies. And yes I do happen to live on a rainbow.) But it’s easy to see that it’s not. It exists in little things that happen along the way, that we fail to notice. It exists for friendships. It exists for things that were just meant to happen, how much ever you avoided it.

This incident is my serendipity. Among many others that enfolded soon after.

But those are for another time.

And the acquaintance is now ohana.