Serendipity
Sunday, May 11, 2014 at 05:13PM 
This is not the post I wanted to write today...this is the post that came to me through many channels. The timing was perfect and so I had to go with the feeling that there was a message here for me. I have always believed in serendipity but this time it was amazing and the timing, so appropriate.
How to explain it...yesterday I was just scrolling Facebook and I came across a posting from a friend of mine who at one time lived in Salem..the town where I was born. It was from a friend of hers reminding her of something that had happened a few years back...out of the corner of my eye..I saw link to a page that said..."you know your from Salem if....." Now that intrigued me and so I clicked.
I started strolling down the page and it was like home sweet home...until about 3/4 down the page when a photo popped up that took my breath away...
This is where I lived and I worked for so many years...this is the apartment house that I lived in above the drug store (at the time I got married) The building on the corner of Bridge St and Arbella..now please understand, I did not live there in 1900..but it did look very much that way when I was there..and before this apartment...I lived a few streets down on the left, on the corner of Bridge and Barton...I never traveled very far in those growing up days...
The lay-out was, just above the drug store, The Bridge St. Pharmacy, in the front of the building was an apartment that my Grandmother and I shared and on the Arbella side was my Mom's apartment that she shared with my 3 brothers...My Mom worked at the drug store for over 25 years and both me and my brother worked there after school each day...
So now here's the amazing part...as I was scrolling down this page in utter amazement, having a wonderful time reading all the comments about Bridge Street and the drug store, I then read a comment that really just knocked my socks off with joy and wonder...
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Rick St Pierre Oh, how i miss lime rickeys. no such thing in FL. taco bell has the closest lime drink. is brighamms still around up there?
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Jim Lemire here is that corner drug store now, Bamboozle skate shop, photo from streetview google maps
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Judith Regan oh my goodness! Arbella was my street growing up! That was a drugstore when I lived there and my brother was a "soda-jerk" behind the soda and drink counter. I loved their "vanilla-cokes" and their vanilla frappes!! I miss these stores, "mom and pop" deals
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Then I come across a comment by Barbara Connell Wilson and my heart melted...she was talking about my Mom...she remembered her...How sweet. The next comment was about my Mom also...oh my. How my Mother would have loved knowing these sweet ladies remembered her. How she would have loved knowing that her little job made a difference to everyday people...it would have lifted her up. She never really thought that her job as a "clerk" was important or of consequence but reading this I see that she was wrong. No matter what we do in life, if your goodness shines, you do make a difference in someone's life. Not everyone can be high tech and brilliant...we need all kinds of good people to make the world a better place. In that little neighborhood...my Mom made a difference and I'm so happy to see that she was noticed and that she might have been a bright spot in some young adults life along their way...whether by being a employee along side of some of them or perhaps she was the one who served you your lime ricky or vanilla coke..(blended at the soda bar) and chatted with you while you enjoyed it. When you walked into that store you would find her there 6 days a week waiting to serve you...
So where does the serendipity come in...right there, finding this post..I found it on Mother's Day weekend. I found the gift of seeing my Mom through others eyes..and I think it was so amazing that through a connection like Facebook, through a friend's page that I only know from a group we both belong to now, not then, and from there, to just be reading about my city...my Mom came back to me for a visit. She once again lets me know, in her own way...that all is well, we are never very far away and yes, we can go home...
Happy Mothers Day to all my friends who visit here. Remember you to, are making a difference to someone, even if you don't know it...
Reader Comments (8)
What a beautiful story Cheryl
Every post just gets better and better! Truly special!
You lift so many up including me today. Keep on being you <3
What a wonderful story and precious gift to you Cheryl! You are so right in both ways; serendipity does seem to come into our lives just when we need it and the little things we do for others do make such a difference. Thank you for sharing your story! I hope your Mother's day was wonderful!
OH MY, Cheryl!
I'm full of tears reading about this serendipitous experience.
WOW . . . This is good stuff . . . the kind of stuff I believe in . . . "God Winks" of sort.
What a heart-warming thrill for you to have found this, especially on Mother's Day Weekend!
Ah . . . thanks for sharing in your very special, unique way.
You just invite us in with your words and descriptions . . . you "show" without telling . . .
the perfect gift for a gifted writer, YOU.
I KNOW you had a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!
We did too, in New Hampshire with my 89 year old mom and her 90 year old boyfriend!
Thanks for your supportive e's which also helped get me through. xox
Precious story. Thank you for sharing.
Precious story. Thank you for sharing.
It was meant to be...
Wonderfully written Cheryl! Totally heartwarming read. It just goes to show that we never know who will remember us or what for...but we are all connected together in manifest ways...