Familial Serendipity

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting at my computer at 2:30 pm, still in my pajamas, when the phone rang.  It was my mom’s cousin Amy, who moved back to Philly last week after about 40 years away.  She was in lobby with her sister Angie, and they wanted to know if I was interested in having a late lunch with them.

I said I’d love to, except for the fact that I hadn’t actually taken a shower or gotten dressed yet that day.  Amy relayed this information to Angie, and when she came back said, “Can we come up and wait in your apartment while you shower?  Angie says there’s nothing interesting to look at in her’s.”

I said of course and we hung up.  I flew to the door, unlocked it so they could get in, and leaped into the shower.  Ten minutes later walked into the living room, clean and dressed (although I still had wet hair).  Amy was talking on her cell phone to my mom, giving her a step-by-step tour of my apartment, and Angie was sitting on the floor near my front door, going through the bags of books that were sitting there, waiting to be gotten rid of.

We had a nice lunch at Devil’s Alley and later they headed off to babysit Derek, Amy’s grandson (and the primary reason she moved back to Philly).

At about 9 o’clock last night I was headed home after an evening of meditation and hanging out with some girlfriends on a Center City roof deck.  I turned down the back alley that runs behind my building, when I spotted two familiar figures walking towards me.  It was Amy and Angie, returning to the parking garage to claim their car after an evening of babysitting.

One of the things that Amy was looking forward to about moving back to Philly was the opportunity to run into friends and family on the street.  She would often read my descriptions of running into Sabrina or Dan or Angie and long to be having thos same experiences.  And in that instant, I was able to give her one.

I stopped in my tracks, raised my arms and said,  “Now what are the chances of this?”  Amy broke into laughter and Angie said, “What a surprise!”  We hugged hello, commented on what a treat it was to see each other twice in one night and said goodnight.

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