Fate at the Farmer's Market

Well, if I ever doubted that some things are just meant to be, I think I finally decided this morning to put the notion to rest.

I've actually experienced quite a few things in my life that were simply not accidents: I know that's how I met Andrew. I know that's how Sam came to be our son. I know I was laid off from a yucky job just as the American Cancer Society needed someone in my area (which was also a time when Rob didn't want to acknowledge his cancer experience, but I was feeling a need to find a tangible way to show my gratitiude, but I digress...)

This morning, we ran into Jodi and Eric at the Collingswood Farmer's Market. We don't go there frequently, but had only been there about 5 minutes before we ran right into them. Jodi and Eric are the parents of the adorable Cesi, their sweet daughter born in China.

We first met them when we went to Music Together class last summer. We hadn't had Sam long, but wanted to foster his immediately obvious love of music. As soon as we sat down in class, there they were, and we just clicked right away. They'd been home from China only a couple of months when we met.

Well, we didn't see them again for a while, but asked the teacher (who goes to our church) if she'd seen them, only hear they'd asked about us, too. When you think about all of the people you meet, just the fact that we remembered and asked about each other was interesting enough.

About six weeks ago, we walked into the Moorestown Mall -- where we NEVER go -- and said to each other that we should really look them up. Several minutes later, just chatting over salads, they walked up to us. They were out on a "date," yet hadn't been in that mall for five years. We exchanged numbers and decided to get together soon. Rob and I went on vacation soon after and kicked ourselves for not having called them first.

Today, we made plans while we were together just so we wouldn't let the time pass before we actually met up again. Eric joked that waiting to meet at the mall, while a strange coincidence, is sure not to happen again within the next five years.

The moral of my story is that I just know we were meant to know these people. It's also yet another example of how the miracle of adoption really does bring people together. Our now-very-good-friends, a.k.a. Ethan's parents, were just here the other day, and we met them online of all places.

Hmmm. I just had a thought. Maybe it's Sam and Cesi who were meant to be together?! I'll have to remember that thought when they're out of college...