It's Not Luck (or at least, not “just” luck)

 

Lucky? Synchronicity? Or something else? 

On our very first time in St Augustine we met historic reenactor James, who was telling the story of Black history connection to the town. He looked at us and said, “You guys don't seem like tourists. You're not just after photographing yourselves in front of the typical postcard hotspots, posting it online, and then moving on, I can tell. You are travelers, and you are trying to go slow and really understand the places you visit.”  He was right … but also, he intrigued us enough to make us want to learn even more. We slowed our northbound sailing trip, lingered in town for a while, learning more and more about it and its unique contributions to the character of Florida and the US. That interaction with James was the syncronicity, the lovely coincidental meeting that started us on the path to eventually moving to St Augustine and making our full-time careers about living history. 

Our magical little historic town!

I was having a conversation with friend Stacey about syncronicity in life, and whether it was unusually prevalent in cruising:

“You know the way a soldier can put himself in harm’s way? I believe you can put yourself in luck’s way as well,” I told her. Cruising is built for this … as you make yourself available to opportunity. Jaye was standing in line to get our mail and chatting with the person in line next to her. That person turned out to be the manager of the Spanish tall ship docked in town. She invited us to stop by for a tour. So we did. That was the first step -- then it was “oh you have historical garb? Come by, we are doing a photo shoot and could include you.” And again, we did. Next thing we knew, we were volunteering as tour guides on the ship, Dan was helping with the carpentry, and Jaye was learning to cook a few Spanish menu items. And then, “Bring your passports, you’re in bunks #9 and #10, we’re going sailing.” Wow! Sign me up! We became members of the crew, put thousands of sea miles under the keel, and had the most amazing experiences for the next 4 summers. 

“So being open, and having the garb because you have a passion for history, etc.?” Stacey asked. 

I think it was about being open and flexible to adjust our schedules to take advantage of the opportunities offered. In our case it was having the historical garb that opened the doors (or paved the way or whatever metaphor you'd like to apply), but it could have been anything.  Someone else might have had knitting needles and would offer to teach, or a camera or charcoals to offer to make images, or ... hmmm... musical instruments to offer to play, it would have been the same. Freely offer your unique talents, let those make connections, and then follow where those connections lead you. 

Are we lucky? Sure, luck played a part in our having adventures. What if James hadn't been working at the park that day? What if the person in line at the post office wasn't in a sociable mood that morning? That part was luck, but we put ourselves in luck's way as well, by responding to those opportunities. They didn't take us where we expected to go, but in the end, when we followed where chance led, those opportunities took us to a place that was even better than the one we could have planned for ourselves. In the words of my idol, mathematician and Danish WWII resistance member Piet Hein, “We can only hope … but not ONLY 'only hope.'” 

Dan says this photo makes it look like they are headed out to sea and he's looking back at the shoreside pleasures he's leaving behind. But I think he's thinking that St Augustine is too darn cold to spend the day greeting visitors on the foredeck of the Galeon!

NB: I'm excited! This is my 500th Life Afloat post! I definitely wouldn't have believed that I'd be able to keep that momentum up when I started blogging.