'You changed the course of my life,' I said to her as we stood talking in the Marquee beside the white-covered trestle tables, laden with food and drink. She looked shocked. I suppose it is strange to think that a casual decision, taken one busy working day, can shape someone else's life.
I was a fresh pretty young girl, recently arrived in London from Yorkshire when she took a chance on me, offered me a job working for a large international company without checking my shorthand and typing, which weren't all they could have been.
Not that I had thought of her at all, these 30 years or so since that day, but seeing her there now brought it home to me that it was that decision which had changed my world, brought me a marriage that lasted 18 years, our three amazing sons, life-longs friends and the invitation to this party in a Sussex orchard on a fine June day.
Life is frighteningly random, isn't it? But then it would be more frightening if it were any other way.
ReplyDeleteStrange how life turns on seemingly tiny decisions, which fork in the road we follow ...
ReplyDeleteYes, it's impossible to recognise life changing moments at the time. It's only in retrospect that we can see the consequences of a particular action. I never expected to see her again either, but she was still working for the same company.
ReplyDeleteWOW!
ReplyDeleteI love these tiny stories of yours...compact, concise, no words wasted..
It makes you think, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI often think back to that random decision taken by me to leave New Zealand and come to England on a visit.
That was more years ago than I choose to admit here. I came for three years and stayed forever.
I have children and grand-children (and a blog) now - and the rest, as they say, is history....
Thank you Jan. I just take incidents from my life and see where they take me. It's a way of recording things which would otherwise vanish into the ether. Glad you are enjoying it too.
ReplyDeleteIt's that John Lennon thing, Beatrice - Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. Fascinating twists and turns that have unknowable consequences.
I too am enjoying the snippets, but they leave me hanging and with questions, who is the man from Melbourne? The pink shirt man?...frustrated smiling sigh!
ReplyDeleteI think we need a bit more about her, please.
ReplyDeleteThis was really thought provoking. I am going to make myself a coffee and stare out at the rain soaked garden and consider. Life really is so very random.
ReplyDeleteLovely post.
She was just a Personnel Officer OM. I never expected to see her again, but she did turn out to have a huge impact on my life.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I need to do a cast list, PITK, like Beatrice. The Melbourne man was mentioned a couple of months ago in my blog - I met him on the Friends Reunited website and we arranged to meet up should one of us visit the other's country, which he did. Probably just a cameo appearance I think.
The man in the pink shirt is separated and available and is a 'friend' with possibilities, maybe. I'm hoping to see him again next weekend and we'll see.
You don't live in the Tarn do you? I may be over there this summer. Just a thought.
I wish we could share a coffee DM. I'm sure we would have a lot to talk about.
BTW, I've just got back from seeing "Tell No-one" or "Ne le dit a personne" for PITK. It is absolutely riveting if you get the chance, but not for the faint hearted. Actually, wish I had gone to see it with the man in the pink shirt as it had real hand holding possibilities. There's nothing like a scary film to encourage a bit of intimacy.
ReplyDeleteCatching up after my hols. Lovely romantic little tales. Hope the pink shirt goes well at next meeting.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it happens @themill, otherwise I shall be very disappointed. I haven't heard a peep since the serenading evening. Will he call/won't he? Do I need this?
ReplyDeleteI love this, the shortness of this post and yet how it encapsulates the moment which changed your life.
ReplyDeleteYes, lovely.