Whirling through America: Serendipity

It was one of those days. An absolutely beautiful day to walk through the majestic Redwoods at Muir Woods. So beautiful that a steady line of cars preceeded and followed us into the already full parking areas. After deciding we'd never be able to park, we turned around and headed to Sonoma and Napa Valley. When we found ourselves in another long, single lane of traffic heading to Napa, I remembered and related the following to Komal.

"It was a rare moment of absolute freedom in my youth. Having up and left my now ex-fiance in Florida, I was on the road alone and approaching Nashville, TN, the world capital of country western music, where I intended to spend the night and get out ASAP in the morning. Strangely, the fast lane that I was in started to slow and soon became a long, slow line of cars. I was apprehensive about finding a hotel room before dark, but instead of switching lanes I thought 'they must know something that I don't', and stayed in line. After about 10 minutes, we all turned into a large parking area where men with whistles were quickly directing cars to the next available space. I parked and, following everyone else's lead, jumped out of my car, locked it and sprinted to the new line that had formed to the side of the parking lot. I still had no idea what was going on, but was caught up in happy anticipation of something. The excitement increased when a beaming woman magnanimously bestowed upon me a single Entrance Ticket with a seat number. My fellow line-standers were unable to contain their joy, so I whooped and hollered with the best of them. We were soon led to an auditorium where I took my seat and waited until the lights dimmed and we were all welcomed to the June taping of the Johnny Cash Christmas show. I have no memory of where I spent the night so it must have been uneventful, but I'll never forget the lesson that following the flow, overriding the rational (I don't know where to stay tonight, I'm all alone and I don't even like CW music) can lead to joyful experiences."

Komal and I pondered the parallels and decided that we were definitely open and flowing with the best as we crawled along at 15 mph. We set Pocohontas to the address of a winery about 14 miles past Napa so that we'd get a good look at wine country, bought a hot sandwich to share and drove until the traffic in front and behind had all peeled away and we were driving alone toward Frog's Leap Winery which had offered free tous everyday on their website. This day, however, a sign said: Private Event. Please come back tomorrow for tours. As we prepared to turn around, two young men ran out in front of our car and waved us toward the drive. "It's Frogtoberfest! Please join us!" We parked where directed and quickly ate the by now cold sandwich. Then we followed the signs and were ushered to our free hats and pins, free beer steins and on through to the open bar, smorgasbord, wine-tasting, 3 man polka band and lots of jolly folks in equally silly green hats. Our host greeted us personally and asked us to keep quiet the fact that we'd gotten in free while everyone else had paid $65 to attend the day's festivities. He said he'd decided to throw it open to the public just 5 minutes before we drove up to use up the extra mugs and beer.

Serendipity? Going with the flow? Open to the Universe? Grateful to be part of Life? All of the above.