Serendipity Part I

Today I’m sharing a story of serendipity … after you read it, let me know if serendipity is the right word … can you think of a better one to explain this event?

The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines serendipity as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a satisfactory or beneficial way, understanding the chance as any event that takes place in the absence of any obvious project (randomly or accidentally), which is not relevant to any present need, or in which the cause is unknown.

say wha? lets just go with this:

Serendipity = the luck of finding valuable or agreeable things not looked for.

If you’re part of The Studio | Online I need not explain why I had to have a ladder … well, actually not just a ladder, but this ladder … this vintage, weathered ladder, covered in paint splats, splotches, and drips.

Oh, and just look at that hardware … that gorgeous grey hardware … love … .

If you’re not part of The Studio but you love the old, the weathered, and the worn … you’ll understand as well.

Several months ago, one of the prompts in The Studio | Online was “on ladders” but Kim shared some images on her Still Sunday on Ladders blog post (take a peek if you want some amazing inspiration).

Ever since then, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect specimen, so I now own one red ladder, one 11′ grey ladder, and now this wonderful paint splattered brown gem. Newsflash: when Kim suggests a prop, said props are scooped up across the country … heck no … the world! So here’s the puzzling and amazing story as to how I got my hands on this …

One lovely summer day whilst browsing my favourite junque store “One Man’s Treasure” I spied an amazing ladder. The PERFECT ladder. But after looking at it and swooning and exclaiming loudly about how wonderful it was, I walked away. Why did I walk away? Well, I’ve pondered that decision a lot.

On that fateful day, I had three of my grandchildren with me, and I guess I thought I was going to demonstrate self-control to the kids … aaacckk … is it possible I didn’t want to appear impulsive? I really don’t know. I remember telling them I was going to walk around and think about it … but I KNEW better. Well, it wasn’t 5 minutes later when my granddaughter touched my arm and said “grandma … look! that lady is taking YOUR ladder!”

Gah! I spun around and stared at the woman as she began removing the items that had been set on it. She clearly was on a mission … and I swear she shot me an evil look. It didn’t phase me. I took a few steps towards her, my mouth open, wondering how I was going to stop this. But all I could do was gawk helplessly as the shop owner appeared and began to help that woman take it to the front of the store and out the door … and, er … I may or may not have followed them … I can’t remember.

Within 10 minutes the whole event was over, the ladder was gone. I turned to my granddaughter, and with some weak bravado croaked “I guess it wasn’t meant to be mine.”

Suddenly I didn’t feel like junquing anymore, so I suggested we should come back another day … for now, let’s just go to Walmart (insert a chorus of hooray’s from my grandsons) and out the store we went.

In the car, my sweet grandchildren expressed their sadness for me, so I had to make a joke out of “the ladder that got away”.

We discussed the whole matter at length, until I was sure they had had enough, and I promised to never mention it again.

But of course I brought up several times that week how the ladder wasn’t meant to be mine, how I had enough stuff already, how it didn’t matter, and oh yes … I won’t mention it again. It always elicited a huge laugh. I was having a wonderful time teasing them, and they were enjoying it wholeheartedly … a valuable and agreeable memory … one we weren’t looking for.

If the story had ended here, it would have been fine. But it didn’t.

Continue reading Serendipity Part II