Bashert

Twenty-two years ago this month, two people met. To the untrained eye it was a simple introduction in a copy room. A veteran colleague welcoming the new gal he had read about in the “Welcome Memo”. But actually there was a chorus of angels singing Hallelujah and a great deal of angel high-fiving going on!

You see, this had not been an easy moment to arrange. He had been born in Illinois and raised in Missouri. She had been born and raised in Rhode Island. But a bigger challenge was the time difference. Not Eastern to Central Time zones, but a difference of fifteen years. He had arrived on the planet fifteen years early or perhaps she was fifteen years late. No matter, it was a problem. There were in fact plenty of complications existing and plenty more to come. But those angels know their business. So they were excited, delighted and perhaps more than a little relieved to be transferring the responsibility and next steps to the couple shaking hands, next to an enormous photocopy machine, in a fluorescent lit room, in Massachusetts.

Fortunately, somewhere deep in our hearts, Chuck and I felt a connection. It wasn’t enough to start high-fiving and joining in with the chorus, but a connection natheless! I remember feeling as if we had met before. Not in that lame pick-up-in-a-bar kind of way, more like old friends who were catching up after not having seen each other in ages. It was easy, relaxed, comfortable.

We were, in fact, Bashert: predestined, soulmates, meant to be. The angels had their work cut out for them and it turned out we did too. Twenty-two years later I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, perhaps just one; I would have tried to arrive much earlier...
;o)