Serendipity

…noun; Etymology: from the possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip”, date 1754. Formerly rare, this word and its derivatives have had wide currency in the 20th century. Definition: The faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. The phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

“Serendipity” is also the name of the performance we attended last night at the Chautauqua Playhouse in Carmichael. And what an unexpected discovery it was! It wasn’t, of course, entirely accidental either on our part or theirs. We have had season tickets to the Chautauqua for the past three years. Originally, it was because it was the closest theater to our home and then because we were truly enchanted by the plays and musical productions they stage there. For their part, the performance showed that a lot of talent and thought had gone into selecting the performers and the numbers which were a mix of thoughtful, zany, sad, inspirational, inane, and intriguing. Many rehearsals had honed the performance to a smooth running evening. From the handwritten insert in the program announcing the evening’s pianist to the singer who used crib sheets for his talking parts, we could tell the run had suffered from personnel sickness or change. But they pulled it off well.

Although the performance itself was a happy discovery, an even happier discovery was the couple we invited to go with us. Friends from church, we discovered through the evening what really delightful people they are and all the exciting things they’ve done in life. From smoke jumping to in-the-sky traffic reporting, from working in Soviet east Europe to manning a tall sailing ship across the Atlantic, this couple has so many stories to share. And they do it in such an unpretentious manner. Makes me glad we buy four season tickets each year.