Invisible Thread Needs No Needle

There is an ancient Chinese Proverb. It says: “An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place and circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.” Lately, sometimes it is hard to pull a thread of cotton when you are trying to sew a button on. I see very well from far away and I have to wear part time glasses to see close. So attempting to get the strand in the tiny hole of the needle is trying on the eyes and nerves. I rarely sew anything, but sometimes you must put a fallen button back on the garment; else you can never wear it. If you believe in destiny and that is the way you met your spouse or you obtained your job; then destiny is a good word in your life. Sometimes, we are destined to meet someone special and circumstances help you out. I know of several people who met their now spouses by destiny. One is a young man who was at work and he had been eyeing up a pretty young lady and he was informed that she was leaving the following week for another job. His friend at the office urged him to ask her out; else he may never see her again. He did, they courted (do they still use that word) and they are happily married now and they have two children. If he had not had the courage to ask her out, things might be mighty different now. I know of another young man who was going with this girl and she was about thirty-six and he was about forty-three. She was a lovely young lady, a nurse at a local hospital here and they were of different religions. It did not seem to bother either of them, but it bothered his mother. The young woman was very nice and respectful of his parents and they had her for dinner during some of their religious holidays. She asked lots of questions about why it was this way or that way and she would have made a fine wife. I urged his mom to encourage him to marry her, do not let the religion stand in their happiness. She could not bring herself to do that. I kept telling her let him be happy. So somehow they broke up and she met another man after him and they just got married this past week. They are a lovely couple and the first one is still looking for a wife. He goes online looking and nothing happens. So I guess destiny brought her to this nice young man and she is a married lady on her thirty-ninth birthday and they hope to have a child in the next year or so. I know of a high school classmate of mine who met her husband when she was about thirty-eight because she and her mom moved into a new apartment and this fellow came back from the Korean War and he came to see his sister who lived across the hall there, he had not seen in four years. He met my classmate; they married and had two children. If she and her mom had not moved there, her whole life would have been different and surely not as happy as it turned out to be. My cousin met her husband when she went to D.C. to work for the government. He worked in the same division she worked in and they connected and he and she were very happily married for thirty some years until she passed on a few years ago. In those days, we all lived at home until we married. Her grandmother thought it was terrible that she lived away from home in those years. There was no way she could have driven in the D.C. traffic every day and kept her sanity. She did not listen to Grandmother and her life was blessed with a new destiny. I know of a young lady who started to take ballroom dance lessons and she met a single fellow there and they married and danced away the years in true happiness. William Jennings Bryan said “Destiny is not something to be waited for, it is something to achieve.” So true a statement, it explains the word destiny in the exact meaning. There is a friend of mine who did not get accepted into the medical school he chose; he went on to another college for a higher degree and he met a young woman there and they are married thirty-three years and are expecting to become first time grandparents this September. Who knows where each would have wound up if he had been accepted to the medical school. I read online the resume or qualifications list of a new doctor I may use. In his biography online he says “Only easy day was yesterday.” I guess he means that yesterday is past, whatever problems or hardships there might have taken place were easy ones. Who knows what today and tomorrow will bring. I always like that today is OK, tomorrow will be better, and the following day will be swell. Those were my Dad’s meanings of Life. He truly believed in them. I like the invisible thread proverb that says we are destined to meet regardless of time, place and circumstances and that the thread will not get tangled and if it does, it will never break and we shall meet the opportunity coming our way; because we were destined for our serendipity and Lady Luck will come and get us. Mom told me to go on the date way back in October 1957 when Jerry kept calling me and I kept turning him down because I did not like the young man who gave him my phone number. So to quiet Mom up, I took the chance for the blind date and my serendipity took over and the rest is fifty-six years of married life, two children and their spouses, and my beloved four grandchildren. Where would I be now, who knows, of course, I could be married to a millionaire, living on a yacht some weeks, flying here and there and whatever else could have happened. I took Mom’s advice and we all know that Moms always know what is best. That is what we were taught way back then in the Middle Ages I lived in- the nineteen fifties. So here is to destiny, serendipity, happenstance and the roll of the dice. Bravo to the old fashion way of taking Mom’s opinion and guidance. The invisible thread needs no threading into a sewing instrument; it only requires the connection to happy times and it will never break regardless of time and there are many easy and delightful days ahead. elita sohmer clayman