SWEET SERENDIPITY

Years ago I read something in a book. If my memory serves me properly, it was "Another Roadside Attraction", by Tom Robbins. It is about what could be fairly described as a hippie couple, who, among other things, own and run a small restaurant and "museum", a roadside attraction, as it were. There is a passage which describes them as they walk through the rain, and how they never really seemed to mind it or worry about it, how it never really seemed to get them wet; because they simply didn't fight it. The story, by the way, takes place in the Pacific northwest, so there's plenty of rain. Anyway, Tom Robbins has always been for me somewhat more than just an author. His books are not just novels, they are psychedelic mushroom-induced parables, they are stories which tell you to shift your consciousness, to try to look somewhere other than where the magician wants you to look. So I've always tried to walk in the rain like the hippie couple in that novel: without tensing my shoulders or hunching over and hightailing it for the nearest shelter. Just walk in it. It's only water.
So, tonight, I was heading over to the theater, on foot, and it was raining. Not like holy-crap-where's-the-ark pouring, but definitely more than just a drizzle. I had no umbrella. I rarely do because I always use them for 15 minutes and then end up leaving them someplace.
I was listening to "Sweet Serendipity" by Lee DeWyze on my iPod, an infectiously cheerful and boppin' little song, and as it played I was thinking how the lyrics pretty much describe my life perfectly: "I can't say what's next - and I got nothin' up my sleeve - but I don't lose my head - 'cause it ain't really up to me." The music was practically taking over my body, I found myself smiling at the happy absurdity of it all and the miracle, or miracles, that brought me to that exact moment in time. I was one step away from breaking into full-on Gene Kelly Singin'-In-The-Rain dancing with streetlights and puddles. Thankfully for my dignity's sake, the street was pretty much empty anyway. So I made this half-hour walk through the rain, when most people would be gathering their coats around them and grumbling about the weather, just feeling, well, kind of happy, for lack of a better word. 
And I'll tell you something. When I arrived at the theater, aside from a little dampness in my shoes, I was dry.

"Don’t look fate can only find you

You can’t choose for something to surprise you

Set sail without a destination

Just see where the wind will take you

You never know when you're gonna fall

But I'm not worried

No I'm not worried

at all"