All That Snow In WA

SERENDIPITY: AN UNPLANNED, FORTUNATE DISCOVERY

The two people in this story might never have met if not for a series of fortunate oversights, wrong turns, and misunderstandings. This is a story of embracing the potential in the unexpected.

LONG AGO, FAR AWAY

Before dreams of Tasmania were a glint in my eye, I was working in a remote part of Kansas and living in a town with a population of 512 people. It was an undeniably charming and very welcoming locale, which remains one of my favourite places I have lived. However, it goes without saying, there was no dating scene for the under-80’s crowd. I specify under-80’s because I had several brilliant dinner dates (friends only, of course) with the neighbour in my duplex, who was a sparkling 87 years old.

Most of life was bubbling away just fine, but the single status was starting to wear.  I had lingered far too long over the ruins of a heartache from uni days, and now I was amongst the last of my social circles unpaired.  A blog post I made at the time captures my annoyance.  Have a little read below.

ABSENT MINDED: YOU’RE ABSENT, AND I MINDED (2010)

I have no idea to whom this post should be addressed.  If I knew who “whom” was, I wouldn’t be composing this complaint.

I am now in rogue command of Fort Spinster – the lone surviving, unattached member of countless circles of friends on a shockingly wide grid in my region of the country.  Sure, I’ve had my isolated meltdowns.  (Living in a never-ending re-run of “Bridesmaid” will break anyone eventually.)  However, for the most part I’ve clung to academia as my chosen institution and resolved to be fruitful in my own realm.  I am determined to resist regret and embrace thankfulness for the remarkably fortunate life I’ve lived, regardless of an absent “other”.  And I haven’t minded much… until now.  Today, I am making a public declaration:  I OFFICIALLY MIND!

So, Mr. Whom:  I have no idea what your excuses are, but unless you’re getting no less than five degrees somewhere, running a country, or curing something previously thought to be beyond scientific horizon… you’re late, and I’m in a really bad mood.  This weekend, when my matrimonially inclined counterparts went for a couples’ night on the town, and I had literally NO single friends left to call ANYWHERE in THREE STATES… I minded BIG TIME.  Throw in the fact that my finale to a weekend road trip was eating at an Arby’s alone on a Saturday night… and let’s just say that I hope you, Mr. Whom, are well-read on the courtship patterns of venomous spiders.  ABSENCE UNEXCUSED!

I suppose some of my readership would say that perhaps there does indeed exist a bored and lonely, five-degree seeking someone somewhere, running a country or trying to cure something incurable and lamenting that neither agendas nor microscopes can ever seem to focus themselves on anything good-looking.  I’ll try to have a little understanding if that’s the case.

Until then, Fort Spinster is going on record as being a hostile territory.  That’s right – someone get me a cat and a gin shaker.  I’m single in the Midwest.

(Ouch!  I remember it well!)

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

My girlfriends were determined to see me cheer up and wipe the dust off my black dress.  Enter one very persuasive, much beloved friend (yes, Heather S., it’s you) peddling the virtues of internet dating.  Remarkably few clicks later, I was on the market again via an online profile.  A crucial oversight occurred sometime in this process when I did not set my geography parameters to filter out international candidates.  Without meaning to do it, I went global.

It was a few months into the experiment before lightning struck.  I happened into an email conversation with a lovely engineer from WA.  Fancy that, a nice boy from Washington State, and such an appealing part of the country, too – good so far!  He was an intriguing communicator, loved art and animals, and had travelled all over the place photographing birds and landscapes.  This one had some kismet.  We exchanged messages with increasing frequency for a number of weeks bringing us into late Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.  It was around that time when I popped a question which revealed another pivotal blooper:

“So, is there any snow on the ski resorts yet?”    

I meant the mountains in the northwestern part of the USA, of course.  WA is the abbreviation for Washington State in America.  My faithful correspondent’s answer stopped me right in my tracks:

“Snow?  There’s no snow out here.  I don’t think it has ever snowed out here.  I’m in Western Australia.”

WHAT?!  Oh… that WA.  I had somehow missed that minor detail.  If Kansas to Washington seemed like an ambitious long-distance relationship, Kansas to Western Australia seemed impossible bordering on crazy-town.  Fortunately, my still faithful correspondent was determined to overcome the distance.  (Come to find, his parents had a chance meeting and international romance, too.)  And overcome distance we did.  First, he came to America; then, I went to Australia and settled permanently.  I landed almost 10 years ago, and we have since made our home in Tasmania.

THE BEST THINGS ARE UNEXPECTED

Just in case you’re wondering, he really was saving the world all that time.  He lived on an island in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out how to decrease the environmental footprint of energy projects.

And now you know the rest of the story, as they say.

There truly is unlimited potential in the unexpected, and some “mistakes” are actually the right decision you didn’t mean to make.  Stay hopeful, be creative, and always try something new if you can – lightning might strike!