Serendipitous Christmas

It’s funny as how you get older things change. There are the negative changes like the wrinkles, the sagging flesh, and the need for Metamucil; I’d like to say that I think that only the wrinkle part applies to me right now. Then there are the positive changes in which you see life far differently than you did when you were 18, 28, or even 38; the beauty of getting old is indeed getting wiser.

A few months ago, I met a woman online named Beth. I didn’t meet her on eHarmony, even though it sounds like I did! I met her on Facebook; I gave her tickets to a show by one of my favorite artists, James Maddock.

I bought tickets to a show last May. As it turns out, it was the same night as Nathan’s prom; thus, I wrote to James and asked if he knew someone who might like them. He told me to post a note on his Facebook page.

I posted a note and offered the tickets to the first person who e-mailed me. Beth responded. I sent her e-mail, told her I had to transfer the tickets to her name, and I’d let her know when I got it all worked out.

After I got off the phone with the ticket agency, I e-mailed her. I know you can’t usually tell a lot about a person from an e-mail, but she seemed very lovely. She had never seen James perform before; being a James-aholic, I was excited that she was excited and that my tickets would not go to waste.

I felt pleased that I was able to make someone happy. I liked spreading the music love around when I wasn’t spreading the Hello Kitty love around. I sat at my desk, logged on to Facebook, went to Beth’s profile, and clicked the “Add as Friend” button.

I really had no idea who Beth was, but I already liked the idea of her. She accepted my friend request. Over the next few months, I knew my instincts were right; she was lovely, intelligent, funny, creative, and she loved James Maddock.

Over the years, I had met many lovely people on the Internet. There was Chris, Tom, Tommie, Lisa, and now Beth. Of course, Beth lived the closest in New Jersey, so I thought that some day, there might be a possibility of meeting her.

We shared bits and pieces about our lives. At one point, I gave her my cell phone number if she ever wanted to chat. I wasn’t sure if and when we would meet; ironically, our friendship seemed as serendipitous as the fact that James Maddock’s band, Wood, had a song, Never a Day, on the soundtrack of the movie, Serendipity.

Last Friday night, I was in New York City to see James perform. As I sat there, a tad lonely on my bar stool, I startled. My phone had just vibrated the stuffing out of me.

I pulled the phone out of my purse. I saw I had a text message. I opened the message and saw it was from a number that I didn’t recognize.

The message said, “Hey pretty lady! I hope tonight is your night. Great music, vintage garb, open heart.” The rest of the message described a man in the audience. I texted back asking who the caller was. Another text message appeared saying, “It’s Beth! I tapped into our phone number exchange!”

I laughed out loud. She then told me that the man was James’ manager and she used to work with him. I looked around, found him, took a picture of him with me, and then I sent it to Beth.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel so lonely sitting there on my stool. Beth was with me albeit while she was at a family party in New Jersey. I loved the fact that someone I had never met could be right there with me, making me feel like a lovely lady instead of a lonely lady.

When I realized that Beth’s birthday was on Christmas, I knew that I could not go without sending her something. So, I wrote her and asked for her address, promising that I wouldn’t stalk her, well, I’d only stalk her with James Maddock tickets. I made her pinky swear via text message on Friday night that she’d meet me at a show next year.

So, when I went to the mall last weekend, I shopped for All Things Beth or so I thought. Buying presents for Iz was always fun; however, buying presents for a friend you never met was even more fun. While getting Beth's package ready to mail on Monday morning, I had a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future.

I was standing by the bed wrapping, tying bows, and writing a silly little message for each present. He stood there by the end of the bed, stroked Liam, my cat, once or twice, and merely said, “Serendipity,” and then left. He was right, and I felt it in that moment.

I didn’t start out this month in the best of moods. In fact, when I looked in the mirror on December 1st, I saw Ms. Scrooge. I was in complete “bah humbug” mode.

After my trip to the mall with Suze, Cathy, and Melissa, I became “humbug.” After decorating the tree with Iz and going to Boston with Brenda, I became “bug.” After wrapping up Beth’s presents and mailing them, I was all about “serendipity.”

I hadn’t celebrated a traditional “family” Christmas in a long time. When I thought about it, every time I turned around this month, I was celebrating Christmas in new and different ways. At 48, I realized that Christmas wasn’t all about a day, and my future Christmases would never be anything but untraditional.

Someone said to me recently that “life has a funny way of making things work out eventually.” I think that’s true. I was lucky to have always found fortunate discoveries while looking for something totally unrelated.

Earlier in the week, Suze invited me and Iz to attend her family’s celebration. Today, I told her that we’d love to come; she said “Oh, that’s so cool,” and then mentioned in a P.S. that her husband had threatened to kidnap me for the day if I didn't come. Life is good, especially when someone wants to kidnap you on a holiday.

And, today, right before my eyes, there was another fortunate discovery; Christmas with friends who are like family. In some ways, I longed to be at home with my “family,” though at home, there would be no “fuss.” While there were many dips in the road, I was so very fortunate to always be traveling down a road named Serendipity. ♥