Under The Influence

So many things in my life have come about because of the serendipitous influence of another person. Somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody. I met my husband because my high school English teacher recommended me for a job at our town’s small local radio station. He had come there from another state on vacation and worked at the station over the summer. After we were married we went from living in another small town in far northern Wisconsin to the mountains of Appalachia because a different friend who was visiting us said he’d seen an interesting teaching job advertised in Kentucky. Then we moved on to Maine and to Texas, after which we kind of dumped everything to live on an island off the coast because yet another friend had told us about that place and we fell in love with it. After that Atlanta, where that same friend recommended the Atlanta School of Massage and started me on my almost-30-year professional path. In Spokane, where we lived after that, I eavesdropped on a conversation where someone mentioned a writing workshop in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon. I went, loved it, and as a result a couple of my short stories were published because there I found some places to submit my fiction. It’s been a long and winding road but not the Beatles version. I am so grateful for the people who have been such a positive influence. My sister Judy would’ve quoted the Desiderata and told me the universe is unfolding as it should and there are no accidents. That smacks a little of predestination, which is not my favorite idea but I can say I’ve learned to pay attention to who and what is sent my way.

Photo courtesy Ma_Frank at Pixabay.com