Serendipity

I love the sound of that word, the way it just rolls off the tongue, in a lovely, joyful and playful manner.

Serendipitous moments are joyous, just for a brief moment, one feels at peace with the universe.  I do believe that these moments not only need to be celebrated, but also remembered and shared.

Many years ago, whilst living in Egoli, now known as Gauteng, I met this lovely woman who sold roses at night in coffee shops, bars, clubs and restaurants in Hillbrow. 

Yes, I know what you are thinking?  However, back in the late eighties/early nineties Hillbrow was a very, very safe place.  I lived in Berea and would often walk to Hillbrow in the evening to browse, have a coffee and a chat and then walk home. 

However, I digress!  In conversation with the lovely woman who sold roses, she mentioned to me that Valentine’s Day was coming up, and as there was always a demand for roses, would I like to join her in selling some.  Without hesitation I agreed. Fortunately I was on leave so I had time and space to indulge in this business venture.

Oh I wish I could remember her name…for the sake of this piece I am going to refer to her as Anne.

Anne offered to buy all the roses, the cellophane sleeves and ribbon needed for our Valentine’s day business venture.  I shudder when I think of this; Anne took a taxi to Crown Mines Shopping Mall at 05:00 in the morning to purchase our supplies and then headed back to Berea midmorning, whereupon we set about making our roses look pretty and presentable.

On Wednesday, 14 February 1990, at approximately 08:00 in the evening each one of us, bearing a huge bunch of beautiful red roses, took to the streets of Hillbrow to sell them.

We visited bars, clubs, pubs, coffee shops and restaurants.  We laughed and chatted to the most amazing folk.  My most memorable moments were in Café Wien and Café de Paris (wonderful establishments that attracted folk from all walks of life, language and culture) and the Café Three Sisters, a very popular eatery. I sold a lot of roses and had so much fun laughing with and chatting to people.  We also sold a fair amount of roses in gay bars. Interestingly, once the rose was purchased, we were asked to please give it to the person sitting on the other side of the bar counter with the message: “this is from a secret admirer”.

Towards the end of the evening, with only a few roses left to sell and feeling very tired with sore feet but happy hearts, we decided to visit an old fashioned bar with pool tables and dart boards. It was fascinating to say the least! I approached this huge man – not fat – just tall and broad. His face said it all… his nose had clearly been broken in one too many brawls, however, his eyes were kind and gentle. “Would you like to buy a rose?”  I asked.  Leaning on his pool cue, with a very raspy voice, he said “No thank you my Chick, I don’t have anyone to give it to”.  Despite his very rough looks and demeanour, he was so interesting, charming and kind, putting his hand into his pocket; he said “Ag, alright then, I’ll buy a rose!”

That entire evening presented beautiful moments of serendipity and not a bad profit I tell you.

From time to time I remember the following moments of pure bliss – serendipity.

On our very first visit to Cyprus we were invited to join George’s family for Sunday lunch.  What a joyous affair it was, the table (much like these photographs) literally groaned with food, chicken, loads of home-grown vegetables, bean, olives, freshly baked bread, served with sun-ripened tomatoes and cucumbers, wild greens  and an abundance of fruit, all from their lovely garden, served with a huge dollop of laughter, camaraderie and playful banter which is so good for the soul.

A few days later, wandering around the village, George and I decided to pop in to say hello to his lovely family as well as to thank them once again for the wonderful meal we had the honour of sharing  with them.  George’s uncle insisted that we join them for lunch.  This time we were seated at a table under the grape vines. The meal consisted of a huge watermelon cut into chunks, freshly baked bread, olives, tomatoes, homemade cheese and an abundance of fruit to choose from. 

That seemingly simple meal was pure serendipity, a blissful moment when all is good and right with the world.

On one of our early morning dips at Hobie Beach, my friend Megan and I decided to swim past the pier – the sea was flat and calm.  Because the sea conditions were so favourable in that moment we decided to swim in the direction of Six Pack.  Oh it was just perfect; floating on our backs we were so aware of the beauty of sky and sea.  Megan flipped over onto her tummy and very gently said; “Gail, I think you need to sit up! No, just be calm!”

Much to our delight we were surrounded by dolphins, a whole pod of dolphins swam past us.  First off, it was a bit nerve-wracking as they are huge; we stayed calm while  gently treading water as they swam by.  When it was all over I realised that I had been crying.  My heart was filled with gratitude and at the same time a sense of humility at being present and in the moment.

Ah! Serendipity…When heart connects to heart and spirit reaches out to spirit in a moment of bliss and happiness.