Sweet Serendipity

Dear Sisters,

Have you ever wondered what life would be like without the occasional visit from Sweet Serendipity? I don’t like to thing about it for too long. Serendipity is what makes life more magical, mysterious and just plain fun!  It’s what turns and ordinary day into an EXTRA-ordinary one. It touches our hearts and strengthens our faith because it always seems to come when we least expect it! It could be a simple as a phone call from an old friend who you don’t speak to very often and you just happen to be home to get the call. Or maybe while you are out doing errands a perfect stranger says the exact thing you needed to hear to help you solve a problem or situation you are dealing with.

My all time favorite is when you see words (or an entire phrase ) printed in bold letters on the side of a truck or building that ring so true you know in your heart they were meant for you! Has this ever happened to you?

I had a MAJOR sweet serendipity moment this week when my mother- in- law ( mum ) came for a visit! I can’t wait to tell you what it was, and what she brought with her! Here’s a hint. It has something to do with another sweet serendipitous moment I wrote about in my last post. Curious yet? Come on in for the rest of the story…

Before I just blurt it out, ( I’m awful at keeping secrets) I should tell you that that my mother in love and I have always had a psychic connection. Even when we lived 3000 miles apart we always knew when the other one was going to call. You might say we are ” tuned in ” to each others wavelengths. But that was nearly 15 years ago, and she’s 92 now. As I’ve watched her age I’ll admit to being a little afraid at times of losing that connection simply due to her being less ” with it”.  Not my words, hers! But now I know for sure that that will NEVER happen, even after she’s gone on to meet her beloved Henry who left us a few years back. Here’s why.

Kim and Henry 1949

If you read my most recent post Cranberry Country you’ll remember the story I told about how my mil met a friend at Ocean Spray ” back in the day” who introduced her to our little slice of heaven here on the shorelines. All the while I was writing that post I kept thinking about a very particular set of photos that I wished I could share with you to help me tell my story. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t thought of trying to locate them sooner. Even if I HAD thought of it in advance of writing my post I have my doubts as to whether we could have located them.  Sixty-five years in one house is a long time and a life time of photos! LOTS and LOTS of photos! As it turns out, SWEET SERENDIPITY was already on it!

Fast forward a week! My sweet mil is staying with us right now and guess what she brought with her? THE photos!!! The EXACT photos I was imagining. I could hardly believe my eyes when she brought them out one night after dinner! In my total surprise I told her that I had just written about that infamous chapter in her life and how I would have LOVED to have had them to share them with you in my last post. So, with Mums’ blessing here they are!

The year is 1949. The place is a remote spit of land open to the bay on one side and the open seas on the other. One must plan by the tide for arrival and getting off the beach. The only way to get there was by letting the air out of your tires to get through the soft sand in the road or by boat. Very few cottages dotted the shorelines back then adding to the feeling of being truly cut off from the rest of the world.

Favorite Foursome at a favorite spot~ 1952 Henry, Kim, Barb and Herb

Barb and Herb walking the frigid beach on a hot July day in 1949. Air temperature 103 in the shade. Water Temperature – a shade above freezing… ( my f-i-l’s caption )

Here are the two beach sisters Kim ( my mil in front with her hair wrapped ) and Barb reading an old log. Many residents kept logs back then and some of us still do! Something about being in the quiet, removed from the hustle and bustle of life makes a person want to put the pen to the pad and record even the simplest things. Reports of weather, who visited and what they did while they were there are most of what you’ll find along with plenty of fish tales!

Henry and Herb

Don’t you just love these two hamming it up while trying to get a little shade?

Three of the FAB Four perched on top of Pulpit Rock on near by Clarks Island.

The beloved cottage Barb and Herb called home during the summer months and where my in-laws rented for that fateful week when sweet serendipity came to call. She showed them the way to a vacant cottage for sale just down the road and the rest they say, is history.

Barb and Herb are long since gone on to higher ground, but the little Magnet remains along with a century of memories. It was built in 1909 and in 2009 when the cottage turned 100 the family held the first annual birthday celebration and family reunion.

I never tire of looking at this particular batch of photos or hearing the stories that go along with them! They are a constant reminder to me that SWEET SERENDIPITY is waiting around the corner for that right and perfect moment when you need her most!

Until our next shoreline visit~

Be open to all life has to give and all YOU HAVE to give. You never know what wondrous things are waiting around the corner! And, while it’s always wonderful to be on the receiving end of a visit from Sweet Serendipity, it’s even more so if you are on the giving end! You just never know when something you say or do will change someone else’s day from ordinary to Extraordinary!

Got some SWEET SERENDIPITY to share? Let’s hear about it!

Much love,

BEACH BLESSINGS!

Deb # 1199