I am a big fan of serendipity.
Once, during my first year of law school, I went to the law school building for a night to study. I didn’t really want to study, but I knew it was important that I should. Still . . . I was looking for a reason to blow off being responsible and to do something fun.
When I walked into the lobby I saw a table set up to greet people, and I saw a friend of mine manning the table. I figured this would be an easy way to waste 10 to 15 minutes, shooting the shit with my buddy, and keeping me from actually having to walk into the library to study. However, about 5 minutes into my shooting the shit with my buddy, Linda Fox walked up and commandeered our attention.
Now . . . you have to understand about Linda Fox. She was a third-year law student (I was a first-year) and was easily the best looking woman in our school. Every male student knew who Linda Fox was, and I am pretty sure that Linda knew the power that she had over the rest of us. She certainly didn’t waste words when she showed up that evening.
“Where am I supposed to go to give the Spain Study Abroad lecture?” she demanded of my friend, interrupting me.
My friend directed her to the first large classroom on the right.
“Thanks,” Linda said, and stalked off.
I watched Linda walk away, and then I looked down at my friend. “Dude,” I said, “I think I’m gonna see what she is talking about.”
So I followed Linda into a meeting where she described William and Mary’s “sister program” with a university in Madrid. I am sure she made it sound great, but quite frankly I was too busy losing myself in Linda to really pay attention to the words coming out of her mouth. Now, I knew that she would not be in the program herself – she was a third-year, and would be graduating – but she made studying in Madrid seem really, really fun. Also, the U.S. was going through a recession at the time, I was having a difficult time trying to find a summer job in Miami, and the idea of going to Europe for a summer on borrowed money seemed not so bad.
In the end, I would do exactly that. In a lot of ways, it was the best summer of my life, and it all started because Linda Fox walked up and rudely interrupted me, and then I followed her.
