Why John Cusack is always a good idea

Serendipity, the Movie
On Sunday afternoon, I decided to watch the movie ‘Serendipity’. Have you seen it? It stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale (and Jeremy Piven and Bridget Moynahan) and basically, the story is that John and Kate’s characters meet and there’s a spark between them but they both are seeing other people so they decide to go their separate ways and let destiny bring them back together if they are meant to be.

Yes, it’s definitely a chick flick (Hello! John Cusack!) but it was an okay way to spend 90 minutes.

Cut to two minutes after the movie finishes…

Serendipity, the Blog Post
I had just slipped the movie back into its Blockbuster envelope and decided to go online. I checked Google Reader and Megan of Velveteen Mind (Are you reading her? Do.) had just written this post. ON SERENDIPITY. That, my friends, is what we call serendipitous.

So, admittedly, I was still a little hungover from all the Cusack charm when I read Megan’s post but it still got me to thinking. How much serendipity is there in the world and how much is just us causing things to happen? In the movie, the only really serendipitous (I love that word) moment is when John and Kate’s characters meet the first time, reaching for the same pair of gloves at the counter at Bloomingdale’s. The rest of the movie, the seeking and plotting and attempting to find the other, well, that was two people making an effort.

But it all started with that one moment of serendipity, the happy accident.

Serendipity, in Real Life
If we go back to this post of mine, we could find serendipity in that day as well. No, not the bad day (or EVERY day would be serendipitous) or in me calling the organization (I was planning on doing that anyway) but there was serendipity in the fact that there was a volunteer orientation being held that night. Then, I made the decision to show up, to help that woman in from the parking lot, and yada yada yada. The key was in taking advantage of that serendipitous (REALLY love that word!) moment.

To quote Megan, “Making my Sundays an act of sheer will may prevent moments of missed opportunity…” Megan seeks out serendipity and it comes to her. She has enough experience in this that she is going to blog about it every week. How cool is that? (Well, Megan is way cool, so I’m not surprised.)

I have decided I am also going searching for serendipity. I have found it before and I have no doubt I can find it again. There are plenty of happy accidents to be had, I just need to recognize them, act on them, and then make an effort to realize their potential. This is within my reach. This is doable.

After all, they made a whole movie about it.