What made the day amazing was sheer serendipity. Such a word, that serendipity. “Serendipity means an unplanned, fortuitous discovery.[The term was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a (lost) painting[ of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of, The name comes from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon), hence Sarandib by Arab traders.[6] It is derived from the Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ (Siṃhalaḥ, Sri Lanka + dvīpaḥ, island. This definition comes from Wikipedia, the lazy person’s search engine. At this moment I feel lazy and sad. Sad remembering the sweetest thing a man said to me:
“Every time I read an email from you I learn a new word”. He is no longer in my life.
It was not pure serendipity, I had to be there to make it happen. I was walking to the Equinox for my work out with Sir Richard. A group of about six young women were walking in my direction.
Me: What is happening here, what is going on?
They: It is Music Monday – at 10 am all across Canada young people will be singing the same song,
Me: That is amazing! What an excellent idea! But too bad because I have an appointment with my personal trainer at Equinox and he is really hot. Do you want to see a picture of him – I have one on Instagram.
They: Are you on Instagram? Sure we do!
Me: So you do agree that best i go to the gym.
They: Yes of course. But how long does it take? We might still be here.
Me: An hour and I will stop by.
So I go to gym and explain to Sir Richard and Irish Cream of the wonderful young women and Sir Richard’s popularity with them.
Me: Pretty soon, you will be needing a fan club.
Irish Cream: So how old are they? Is there any possibility there?
Me: I do not know. I guess about fourteen.
Sir Richard: That is too young and illegal.
Irish Cream: No it is not!
I trained indoors and did a good job, if I do say so myself. Then back to VAG went I and they were still there and it was fantastic. Music, singing, a program, a speaker enforcing the importance of music in the schools. What an event. I did, of course, Instagram it. First with me speaking and then later – them sining a wondrous song. I did my entire repertoire – at first gayly dancing to the upbeat band music, clapping enthusiastically, listening intently and then crying with emotion at the beauty of the song. It was heart warming. All in all, it made me proud to be a Canadian – there is no music programs in the school in most of USA schools these days, by the way. Then when it was over the girls rushed over to see me, so glad that I had kept my promise. I showered them with heart felt praise and we hung out together until the bus came to take them back. We ran and got take out lunch at Chipotle, eating it on benches at VAG. We talked about everything under the sun and I told them of some of the strange adventures I had since coming to Vancouver. I impressed them with my independence and bravery in telling someone very powerful where to go. We spoke of the folly of teachers insisting that they decide what to do with the rest of the life. They want me to come for their final concert in June, I shall! I felt like a celebrity as they introduced me with great enthusiasm to everyone. But here is an eerie part.
Me: So where are you from, where do you live?
They: Abbotsford
Me: Abbotsford?!?! (I was stunned!)
They: Why? Have you ever been to Abbotsford?
Me: Yes once. My father’s 90th birthday party in a deconsecrated church.
They: What is deconsecrated?
Me: A building transferred from sacred to secular use.
That story, called Backstory, is a chapter in Uncle Dave’s book. It may not be included in the final version. It is not pretty, let me put it that way.
But I recovered and i waved goodbye and threw away their garbage and went into VAG where I heard from a really interesting employee about an amazing woman tattoo artist in East Vancouver. It sounds like I have to get out of Yaletown and downtown Vancouver. Abbotsford, East Vancouver – where will it all end???
Then home. The air conditioner installer came and we had such an interesting conversation (which I will repay afterwards). The air conditioner is in my bedroom after all. I am SO happy. It is sort of ugly with the duct curling up the window but who cares? I shall be cold. I will include a picture of it all later. Then it was off to the symphony for a brilliant, amazing, stupendous performance. I will write about that later. The most stirring performance of Ravel’s Bolero. I screamed Bravo so loud I lost my voice. And such a great conversation with a woman and her daughter as we walked out together. They were sitting behind me and I bullied them into standing and being enthusiastic in the clapping and all.
The Mother: We thought we had better! If we did not follow your lead you would get us!
Me: You read that one right. Hahahahaha
But here is some more. I send Sir Richard a picture of the girls.
He: How sweet
Me: But not your age range??? They are 16.
He: They are a decade too young.
Me: Can I blog that?
He: Of course.
Me: As if you could stop me. Hahahahahaha
Tuesday was a bit anticlimactic but I have sparklie toes and an interesting new manicure. I have the VERY BEST time with Amy. I think I will put a picture of my nails on Instagram.
I forgot to tell you, one of my new friend’s name is Alexis. Their picture and a picture of the event is attached.
