Later on this morning, quite by accident, I read the following:
In a 1754 letter, Horace Walpole explained his concept of Serendipity,... in which the royals were "always making discoveries of things which they were not in quest of."
Why do some people (like me) have a lifetime of serendipities when others seem to never have happy surprises?
The answer is, you must pay attention, have an open mind, and most importantly, be curious.
Are you curious? Do you ask questions - and then carefully listen to the answer? Sad to say, a number of my peers are no longer curious. Makes me sad because they miss a lot of "happy surprises."
I met Mary last summer at the pool. When that season was over, we began early morning walks. A couple of neighbors have said to me they "never saw that coming." I suppose they meant that Mary and I don't have much in common.
We are very different in some ways but one of the traits we share, besides having lived long lives, is "curiosity." We both pay attention and have open minds. Of course we discuss our woes from time to time but mostly, we talk about ideas, like fibonacci and serendipity.
I've had many happy surprises while walking with Mary.
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