fate · serendipity · Writing

Serendipity

Amy
Daily writing prompt
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.
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There are two.

The first one was when my mom and I were going out to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant for some holiday, and as we were entering, an extremely good looking guy with either his mother or his grandmother were walking out at the same time. He was tall, had dark hair, looked like a model. He looked at me and I looked at him and he smiled. Well, I almost fell down. But I kept looking at him, and he kept looking at me. I was about 16, and I think he was a little bit older than that, but something was palpable. My mom started giggling and telling me, “That guy is really cute, and he’s looking at you, Ame!”

I think I started to blush, and I giggled as we continued to walk into the restaurant. I never forgot that encounter.

The second time was about 10 years ago. It was around Christmastime, and Mom and I were at a local department store that was packed due to the holiday. We were in the jewelry area, and out of this mass of people, I see a really cute guy with a younger girl, possibly his niece. It’s not abnormal for me to notice cute guys, because that’s my thing, but this was different. At the very same moment that I looked at him, he looked at me. The unfortunate part of this is that he was leaving and seemed to be in a rush with the gifts that he had in his arms. The strange part is that he turned around to keep looking at me as if he wanted to speak. I wanted to talk to him, although I didn’t know him at all. We maintained eye contact until neither of us could see each other – I was still in the store and he was in the parking lot. I really wanted to go catch up to them, but I couldn’t make my feet move. I wondered how idiotic would it sound to go up to some guy that I don’t know and say, “Hi, I feel like we’re having a serendipitous moment here, and even though you’re rushing to get wherever you need to go with your niece, we should chat.” I couldn’t do that, but I knew by not doing that that I would never see this person again, though I did check for him in the parking lot, even though I knew he was long gone. And for a while, I would check for him in that same department store every time I went. Anyway, I think I told my mom about it or she witnessed it. And she told me that similar things had happened to her over the course of her life. She believed when we would see people like that, they are angels put into our path for a particular reason. The reason is not always known.

I think the universe knows to send angels to me that look like cute guys.

Published by Amy

I love words. And animals. Photography and fedoras. Welcome. And stay awhile.

27 thoughts on “Serendipity”

  1. Not a bad way of going through the world, with being good-looking as a main criteria. “Excuse me, I notice you are very good looking and I’m having a bit of a crisis here.”

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    1. Mmm… no crises, just two occasions where I had a serendipitous moment with two dudes who happened to be attractive. And then life went on. The moments where I should have said something are the moments I remember.

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    1. My mom was wise in a spiritual kind of way. Not religious, spiritual. I was present when a person appeared out of nowhere to help her. It was at the gas station, she was fumbling with the cap and before I could get out of the car to help, a guy appeared at her side and helped her. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t really pay attention. She went in to pay and when she came out, the guy was gone. There wasn’t anywhere for him to go in that amount of time. He was just gone. So she said, “That guy was one of my angels.”

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    1. Ha! But it’s not really about the universe sending you someone beautiful, it’s about noticing someone and not being able to do anything about the shared moment. And the purpose of these missed connections aren’t known. Like my mom said to me, they are angels. A person can show up and get your attention so that you slow your walking pace, and maybe because you didn’t get to your car fast enough, you avoided a car accident. It’s not about meeting the person as much as it is about what purpose did sharing that moment have? Many of those reasons are unknown.

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  5. I loved reading these moments. Your mom’s reaction was great, too! I grew up hearing about angels like that; that they’re put in our paths. I giggled when you realized your angels are in the form of cute guys. 😀 😀

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    1. Well, I like to think they’re my angels and they’re cute. But it’s only happened twice. 😆 And I’ve talked to a bunch of cute guys that are not my angels – perhaps devils, though. lol. that’s cool that you grew up hearing about angels like that too. I wasn’t sure if it was just my mom or other peoples’ families as well. 😊

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  6. I have come to the perspective that maybe there’s even something deeper at work in these moments – which I’ve experienced a few. Our brains sometimes just sense things – deeply and truly – about other people. It is the fascination of interpersonal neurobiology. It’s as though we can see a part of ourselves in someone else’s eye. Serendipity is a beautiful word for it.

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    1. Yes! That’s exactly it. It stops you in your tracks, but you’re not sure why. It’s almost like a familiarity with a person you don’t know at all. I’m going to have to research this interpersonal neurobiology concept.

      You mentioned you have also experienced these moments. Are they much like what I’ve described? It’s fascinating stuff.

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