Happy New Year: On Serendipity

A very, very Happy New Year to you all!

I wanted to share with you a little story that’s inspired me over the last week and a bit:

I recently read “Bloom“ by Kelle Hampton, a memoir based on her blog Enjoying the Small Things. At the start of the book, Kelle mentions being really impacted by a book called “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years“ by Donald Miller just prior to her life-changing experience.

On a whim, I ordered that book the next time I was getting a bunch of books from the library. Unlike normally, I didn’t even read any reviews of the book or find out about the author. I forgot I’d ordered the book until it turned up just a couple of days before Christmas.

We had just moved into our new home a few hours earlier when I opened up the book. Everything was brand new, full of new possibilities and new beginnings. As my husband Regan was oiling the new wooden floors, I read a few pages of the book. It was funny and fascinating, so I started again and read aloud to him the first few chapters.

As I read, the author talks about meeting two film makers called Steve and Ben. He never uses their full names, but as I read the description of Steve, Regan stopped me and said that “Steve” sounded like Steve Taylor. I kept reading, and he became utterly convinced and excited that it really was Steve Taylor, who he used to work with and was greatly influenced and inspired by. Eventually, I turned to the acknowledgements page at the end of the book, and sure enough it was!

I don’t think I could have happened upon a better book to read if I’d tried upon moving house, and completing it on the eve of a New Year. “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” is absolutely beautifully written. It’s inspiring, it’s a whole new perspective on life and a real challenge. I knew nothing of the book or the author and I think I enjoyed it all the more as a result. It’s the perfect book to start a new year with.

There were other moments when reading the book which made it even more serendipitous for me, here’s 3:

1 – The author talks about his life-changing trip to Machu Picchu, which I would count as one of my most favorite places on earth (we adored Peru).

2 – The book talks about a person in the movie “Adaptation“ (the scene above shows Nicolas Cage reading their book).  I was really impacted by that movie when I saw it and it played with my mind for so long afterwards! When reading the start of “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years“, I couldn’t help but think of the movie too: as both are movie adaptations.

3 – The book also talks about one of my favorite movies of all time: “Garden State“. Ironically, Garden State is one of possibly two or three movies I’ve seen in my life where I knew nothing about it when I stepped into the theatre. My husband and I went on a date to see it, and he chose it after a colleague said she thought we’d like it.  Thanks to Garden State‘s soundtrack, I serendipitously discovered the music of Frou Frou which led me to finding my favorite musical artist ever: Imogen Heap.

Serendipitous moments are such a wonderful part of life! I’m going to purchase a copy of the book and lend it out to people along with re-reading the book aloud to Regan (I got ahead of our reading aloud sessions) and write down quotes to remind me of what I read.