A FORTUITOUS INTERMESHING OF EVENTS

by Deborah Elliott-Upton

My family and friends have been telling me I need to learn to say no more often. I am overextended, but who isn’t? I do have a tough schedule that has gotten tighter every year for the past decade. “Whose fault is that?” my daughter asks. (She’s the one who holds my feet to the fire whenever I need it.)

Last night was the first time I’ve had a good night’s sleep in quite a while. This morning, I feel refreshed. I think I owe it to the last evening’s events—another function I said yes to at the last minute. Friends of the Library were bringing an author to town and I’d dallied with thoughts of going, and kept thinking I didn’t really have the time, because in honesty, I am swamped with deadlines.

This wasn’t a mystery writer coming to town with whom I could make a contact and might know people I needed to know or swap information with—in fact, I rarely read her genre, but something about the ad in the newspaper intrigued me. I’m going to call it synchronicity, a term I came to embrace a long time ago when I participated in a group workshop studying Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The word synchronicity itself is credited to C.G. Jung, and means a fortuitous intermeshing of events. Synchronicity has yielded me many a happy outcome in this life.

Although I invited my writer’s group to the function, none accepted, as everyone at this time of year is jumping with too many obligations. And I admit, it was a last minute decision on my part. I decided to go on my own, but my being alone didn’t last long. (My daughter says I can’t go anywhere without talking to a stranger, something I always told her not to do.)

Coming through the door, I met two other ladies who were as unfamiliar with the venue as I. We became fast friends and eventually sat next to each other during the interview and reading. The interviewer was the same woman that interviewed me for the Friends of the Library a couple of years ago, so I knew she’d ask some interesting questions. We were in for a treat.

The author was Erica Bauermeister, whose book The School of Essential Ingredients is a national bestseller. As much as by reading their work, I learn to be a better writer by listening to good writers speak about their experiences. Bauermesiter was humorous during the interview and those in the audience who’d already read her book in their respective book clubs were nodding their agreement when she mentioned her characters’ nuances and changes throughout the novel. But for me, it was when she read a passage from her book that I was left speechless. Her words undulated in perfect rhythmic arcs like a fine orchestral conductor’s baton. There was no way I could leave without purchasing her book, a book I may not have bought had I decided not to go out that evening.

Standing in line to get my copy autographed, two older ladies were talking and soon I was included in the conversation. They asked if I was in a book club and I answered, “Not currently.” They told me about theirs, asked me to join their group and explained where and when they met. When I explained that I didn’t really have much free time until September, they quickly introduced me to their other club members there and I believe I’m “in.”

I learned of a wonderful author making her fiction debut, a new book I knew I would enjoy reading. I met many new acquaintances who shared my love of reading, including the reps from Putnam Publishing traveling with Erica Bauermeister. And I just may join a book club come fall.

Yes, I’m doing too much, but who says we will have more time if we keep saying no? If I hadn’t attended this two-hour meeting where I renewed an appreciation of the love of words, would I have been doing something as worthwhile to my spirit? Maybe. Maybe not. For me, this was a moment in time of serendipity—a fortuitous intermeshing of events, a.k.a. synchronicity.

I wonder how many opportunities most of us miss by not saying yes once in a while on a whim.