Serendipity - events that changed your life
Discussion
Was chatting with my wife over coffee today and how us getting together was due to one very serendipitous event.
I was close friends with her brother at school but for various reasons we lost contact when I went to university. Fast forward a few years and I was living with my older brother in London. By chance I bumped into my friend, who was working in London but still living around where we grew up. That encounter led us to reconnect, which led me to meeting his sister again and that ended up with us getting together. Any slight change on that fateful day would have meant I wouldn’t have met him and my whole life would be very different now.
There have been other key moments in my life where decisions I’ve made had a huge impact on the rest of my life but that one was purely down to chance.
Can anyone else trace back a major shift in their life due to pure luck (or bad luck)?
I was close friends with her brother at school but for various reasons we lost contact when I went to university. Fast forward a few years and I was living with my older brother in London. By chance I bumped into my friend, who was working in London but still living around where we grew up. That encounter led us to reconnect, which led me to meeting his sister again and that ended up with us getting together. Any slight change on that fateful day would have meant I wouldn’t have met him and my whole life would be very different now.
There have been other key moments in my life where decisions I’ve made had a huge impact on the rest of my life but that one was purely down to chance.
Can anyone else trace back a major shift in their life due to pure luck (or bad luck)?
Retook a year at uni, didn’t really connect with anyone in that year. Second time around, i met my now core group of friends for the last 20 years. One of them suggested a dating site one day, and that’s how I met my wife.
I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
Met a girl on the dance floor. Twirled her around, grabbed a kiss and gave her my number. I was pretty drunk but not too drunk that as I left the club it dawned on me that I had given her my old number, having gotten a new contract/number earlier that day. I convinced the bouncer to let me back in, found her and gave her the correct number whilst making sure I got hers.
Almost 14 years on and we're married with a lovely 6 month old girl and 7 year old pup. Life is good but could have very easily have been different had I not had that moment of clarity since she was only in town for the summer and not a local. Would likely never have seen her again.
Almost 14 years on and we're married with a lovely 6 month old girl and 7 year old pup. Life is good but could have very easily have been different had I not had that moment of clarity since she was only in town for the summer and not a local. Would likely never have seen her again.
devnull said:
Retook a year at uni, didn’t really connect with anyone in that year. Second time around, i met my now core group of friends for the last 20 years. One of them suggested a dating site one day, and that’s how I met my wife.
I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
JFC, I had a very similar experience bar failing first year. That year the students and me were polar opposites and the union was so quiet it shut down every evening by Christmas. Ended up with no mates to move in with so went back into halls and have a very decent batch of mates from that time that I'm still good mates with to this day. I know that deflated feeling though!I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
beambeam1 said:
devnull said:
Retook a year at uni, didn’t really connect with anyone in that year. Second time around, i met my now core group of friends for the last 20 years. One of them suggested a dating site one day, and that’s how I met my wife.
I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
JFC, I had a very similar experience bar failing first year. That year the students and me were polar opposites and the union was so quiet it shut down every evening by Christmas. Ended up with no mates to move in with so went back into halls and have a very decent batch of mates from that time that I'm still good mates with to this day. I know that deflated feeling though!I felt at a complete low point the day the letter plopped on the mat telling me I’d failed the year, but in reality it was one of the best things to happen to me.
Going to university twice (well three times if you include a masters I did much later) meant I did make two lots of close friends that I still have today.
Similar to you, OP, it involves meeting my wife.
I was in training as an army 'Junior Leader' (boy soldier) at the time. We had an exercise planned on Dartmoor, with 59 Independent Commando Squadron RE set to "play enemy" for us. The Commandos cried off, due to the weather forecast, and (I found out later) recommended that our training staff cancel or postpone our exercise too. But it went ahead anyway.
Cue days of horizontal driving rain, collapsed tents, and a whole troop of 40 trainees crammed into a single 4 tonne Bedford truck lined with plastic sheeting, shivering but unable to return to barracks because the truck had broken down. Three days in and it became apparent that there was zero training value in being on the moors, so we were shipped back to camp at Oakhampton in small groups in the back of a Land Rover.
We dried ourselves out, dried out our kit, and continued with other training. Fast forward a day or two and we were at a firing range for a weapon training day. Someone f
ked up, inevitably, and so we were "punished" as a group. At the bottom of the hill up to Oakhampton Camp we were disembarked from the Bedford truck and "marched" up the hill. Part way up I collapsed. Last I recall was falling out of the passenger door of the truck, almost onto the floor before I was caught and helped down. Next morning I woke up in the camp's medical building with a civilian nurse stood over me looking very concerned. My left arm had swelled up to twice it's size and was a decidedly strange colour.
A telephone call was made to the local surgery and I was driven down there in a Land Rover. The GP I saw had, luckily for me, previously been a hospital junior doctor in a hematology department. She took one look at me and called an ambulance to take me to hospital in Exeter. Diagnosed with a blood clot, I was kept in and administered drugs to break the clot down. I needed an ECG and a very lovely young student nurse appeared around the curtain. I was, she said, her "first solo ECG patient". but first, the paperwork. Name, address, next of kin, etc which still needed doing. We had a giggle over her inability to spell my mum's address (I'm Welsh and my street name had no vowels in it) so I took the form from her and wrote things down myself. I was then disappointed when I didn't get to say goodbye to her when I was discharged.
That was in September or October, and it took me until Christmas to pluck up the courage to write a note which I tucked inside a Christmas card. I then conflated her surname and a doctor's first name on the envelope, but the card found her. Even though she was working in a different department by then. And to her credit she didn't freak out over the name confusion, but sent a card back to me. We wrote letters for a while (it was the 1980s young'uns, ask your parents) but she let me down gently and told me there wasn't going to be "anything romantic in it" mainly because she felt I was too young for her. But we continued to write as friends.
A lot of water then passed under various bridges, I had two girlfriends (ironically both significantly older than her), one lasting six months and the second a year. I'd been posted to Germany at the tail end of the Cold War. Then I was sent back to the UK for a course to drive Chieftain Bridgelaying tanks at Bovington. She was still in Exeter, her parents near Bovington, and as far as I was concerned she was in a relationship. So was I, with my German girlfriend visiting me in the UK when I broke a toe on the course and had sick leave until I could get a boot on again. My unit then loaded me onto the next available course to finish my training, and one weekend the lovely (and now qualified) nurse from Exeter announced, by letter, that she would be at home visiting her parents. A drink at a pub in Bournemouth was arranged.
At this point I was still failing to read between the lines of her letters. We met up and I asked which pub we were going to. But we ended up at a cinema. Steven Seagal's 'Hard To kill' and 'The Hunt for Red October' were showing, but we ended up seeing 'Pretty Woman' and still I didn't realise where things were heading. She held my hand during the movie, I squirmed in my seat uncomfortably, mainly because we were both supposed to be seeing other people. Things came to a head outside the cinema, she giggled at my lack of awareness, and I walked her to her parents home. Where I woke up on their living room floor, fully clothed, with her hand inside my shirt (lovely double denim outfit I was wearing, including a baggy stonewashed denim shirt with fake mother-of-pearl buttons concealing pop fasteners). She'd stayed with me all night despite me flaking out on her. Then she ushered me out early, so her parents wouldn't know I'd stayed the night, with directions to the railway station. A few phonecalls were needed to sort the fallout from that, but it was agreed that we were now "a couple" and that we'd each ditch our respective partners.
I returned to Germany, collected my things from my now ex-girlfriend's flat, went on a six week exercise in Canada, then we got a Warning Order to deploy to Saudi Arabia on Operation Granby (Desert Storm in Americanese). Which rather brought things to a head and accelerated plans somewhat. With a 48 hour leave period in the UK to say goodbye to family and friends we managed to see each other. I took her to meet my parents. We discussed our future together. It was decided that we should get engaged but she told me to "ask her properly". So I immediately got on a knee to which she replied "not now. Surprise me you idiot". A trip to my home town, a night in a hotel, and we bought an engagement ring on the way to see my mum. And before I knew it I was engaged, and in tears on a flight back to Germany.
Serendipitous? Not sure if that's the right word for it, but hey? If the Dartmoor exercise had been cancelled, I'd never have got ill, and that was the only reason I had to set foot in Exeter and thereby first meet her. If I hadn't broken a toe on the tank course i'd have been back in Germany with my German girlfriend before my now wife visited her parents. And if Saddam Hussein hadn't been such a complete ahole about invading, then failing to leave Kuwait, then I'd probably never have felt the need to propose to her. But here we are, 30+ years on, arguing about who is the worst at falling asleep in front of the TV, getting under each other's feet in the kitchen, and falling out because she can't leave the washing up to drip dry for even a minute before soaking the teatowel "drying up". Oh, and getting up at 6 am on a Sunday morning in January to see a sunrise together...
...and I still wouldn't swap her for any amount of anything.
I have the occasional twinge of guilt about the way it ended with my German girlfriend. I just turned up at her door with an empty holdall and she realised what was happening and locked herself in a bedroom and bawled her eyes out. In modern parlance what happened after that would probably be described as "ghosting", and failing to explain to her what caused the end of that relationship is my only regret. Sorry about the length of my rambling, but it kinda all fits together in my mind, and doesn't really work if you edit bits out...
I was in training as an army 'Junior Leader' (boy soldier) at the time. We had an exercise planned on Dartmoor, with 59 Independent Commando Squadron RE set to "play enemy" for us. The Commandos cried off, due to the weather forecast, and (I found out later) recommended that our training staff cancel or postpone our exercise too. But it went ahead anyway.
Cue days of horizontal driving rain, collapsed tents, and a whole troop of 40 trainees crammed into a single 4 tonne Bedford truck lined with plastic sheeting, shivering but unable to return to barracks because the truck had broken down. Three days in and it became apparent that there was zero training value in being on the moors, so we were shipped back to camp at Oakhampton in small groups in the back of a Land Rover.
We dried ourselves out, dried out our kit, and continued with other training. Fast forward a day or two and we were at a firing range for a weapon training day. Someone f
ked up, inevitably, and so we were "punished" as a group. At the bottom of the hill up to Oakhampton Camp we were disembarked from the Bedford truck and "marched" up the hill. Part way up I collapsed. Last I recall was falling out of the passenger door of the truck, almost onto the floor before I was caught and helped down. Next morning I woke up in the camp's medical building with a civilian nurse stood over me looking very concerned. My left arm had swelled up to twice it's size and was a decidedly strange colour.A telephone call was made to the local surgery and I was driven down there in a Land Rover. The GP I saw had, luckily for me, previously been a hospital junior doctor in a hematology department. She took one look at me and called an ambulance to take me to hospital in Exeter. Diagnosed with a blood clot, I was kept in and administered drugs to break the clot down. I needed an ECG and a very lovely young student nurse appeared around the curtain. I was, she said, her "first solo ECG patient". but first, the paperwork. Name, address, next of kin, etc which still needed doing. We had a giggle over her inability to spell my mum's address (I'm Welsh and my street name had no vowels in it) so I took the form from her and wrote things down myself. I was then disappointed when I didn't get to say goodbye to her when I was discharged.
That was in September or October, and it took me until Christmas to pluck up the courage to write a note which I tucked inside a Christmas card. I then conflated her surname and a doctor's first name on the envelope, but the card found her. Even though she was working in a different department by then. And to her credit she didn't freak out over the name confusion, but sent a card back to me. We wrote letters for a while (it was the 1980s young'uns, ask your parents) but she let me down gently and told me there wasn't going to be "anything romantic in it" mainly because she felt I was too young for her. But we continued to write as friends.
A lot of water then passed under various bridges, I had two girlfriends (ironically both significantly older than her), one lasting six months and the second a year. I'd been posted to Germany at the tail end of the Cold War. Then I was sent back to the UK for a course to drive Chieftain Bridgelaying tanks at Bovington. She was still in Exeter, her parents near Bovington, and as far as I was concerned she was in a relationship. So was I, with my German girlfriend visiting me in the UK when I broke a toe on the course and had sick leave until I could get a boot on again. My unit then loaded me onto the next available course to finish my training, and one weekend the lovely (and now qualified) nurse from Exeter announced, by letter, that she would be at home visiting her parents. A drink at a pub in Bournemouth was arranged.
At this point I was still failing to read between the lines of her letters. We met up and I asked which pub we were going to. But we ended up at a cinema. Steven Seagal's 'Hard To kill' and 'The Hunt for Red October' were showing, but we ended up seeing 'Pretty Woman' and still I didn't realise where things were heading. She held my hand during the movie, I squirmed in my seat uncomfortably, mainly because we were both supposed to be seeing other people. Things came to a head outside the cinema, she giggled at my lack of awareness, and I walked her to her parents home. Where I woke up on their living room floor, fully clothed, with her hand inside my shirt (lovely double denim outfit I was wearing, including a baggy stonewashed denim shirt with fake mother-of-pearl buttons concealing pop fasteners). She'd stayed with me all night despite me flaking out on her. Then she ushered me out early, so her parents wouldn't know I'd stayed the night, with directions to the railway station. A few phonecalls were needed to sort the fallout from that, but it was agreed that we were now "a couple" and that we'd each ditch our respective partners.
I returned to Germany, collected my things from my now ex-girlfriend's flat, went on a six week exercise in Canada, then we got a Warning Order to deploy to Saudi Arabia on Operation Granby (Desert Storm in Americanese). Which rather brought things to a head and accelerated plans somewhat. With a 48 hour leave period in the UK to say goodbye to family and friends we managed to see each other. I took her to meet my parents. We discussed our future together. It was decided that we should get engaged but she told me to "ask her properly". So I immediately got on a knee to which she replied "not now. Surprise me you idiot". A trip to my home town, a night in a hotel, and we bought an engagement ring on the way to see my mum. And before I knew it I was engaged, and in tears on a flight back to Germany.
Serendipitous? Not sure if that's the right word for it, but hey? If the Dartmoor exercise had been cancelled, I'd never have got ill, and that was the only reason I had to set foot in Exeter and thereby first meet her. If I hadn't broken a toe on the tank course i'd have been back in Germany with my German girlfriend before my now wife visited her parents. And if Saddam Hussein hadn't been such a complete a
hole about invading, then failing to leave Kuwait, then I'd probably never have felt the need to propose to her. But here we are, 30+ years on, arguing about who is the worst at falling asleep in front of the TV, getting under each other's feet in the kitchen, and falling out because she can't leave the washing up to drip dry for even a minute before soaking the teatowel "drying up". Oh, and getting up at 6 am on a Sunday morning in January to see a sunrise together......and I still wouldn't swap her for any amount of anything.
I have the occasional twinge of guilt about the way it ended with my German girlfriend. I just turned up at her door with an empty holdall and she realised what was happening and locked herself in a bedroom and bawled her eyes out. In modern parlance what happened after that would probably be described as "ghosting", and failing to explain to her what caused the end of that relationship is my only regret. Sorry about the length of my rambling, but it kinda all fits together in my mind, and doesn't really work if you edit bits out...
Mine is also to do with meeting my other half.
We worked together for a few years until 18 years ago, I fancied her (and it turned out later the feeling was mutual) but she was engaged amd got married (I along with a lot of the office went to the reception) and she eventually left when pregnant with her first child.
We lost touch, I left the firm and went self employed, and that was that.
Fast forward 18 years and she popped up on Facebook via a mutual friend. We got chatting and now we've been together over 4 years, we have her kids every other week alternating with their dad (divorced obvs), have had a dog 3 years and sold my place and bought a new home together that we moved into in December. The two girls are now 15 and 17 and the eldest that I only met as a belly bump before she left the old firm is now effectively my step daughter (we were saving for a wedding but that money went into the house so just mortgage matrimony for a while longer).
Much as I bemoan a lot of social media I'm grateful to Facebook for finally landing my soul mate, having thought I'd stay single for ever after never marrying or having kids and some nightmare girlfriends. I can't remember now who said hi to who first but that online contact has lead to a massive lifestyle change for me.
Funny old world.
We worked together for a few years until 18 years ago, I fancied her (and it turned out later the feeling was mutual) but she was engaged amd got married (I along with a lot of the office went to the reception) and she eventually left when pregnant with her first child.
We lost touch, I left the firm and went self employed, and that was that.
Fast forward 18 years and she popped up on Facebook via a mutual friend. We got chatting and now we've been together over 4 years, we have her kids every other week alternating with their dad (divorced obvs), have had a dog 3 years and sold my place and bought a new home together that we moved into in December. The two girls are now 15 and 17 and the eldest that I only met as a belly bump before she left the old firm is now effectively my step daughter (we were saving for a wedding but that money went into the house so just mortgage matrimony for a while longer).
Much as I bemoan a lot of social media I'm grateful to Facebook for finally landing my soul mate, having thought I'd stay single for ever after never marrying or having kids and some nightmare girlfriends. I can't remember now who said hi to who first but that online contact has lead to a massive lifestyle change for me.
Funny old world.
It was the winter of 1972 and I was on a drilling rig in the North Sea about half way between Aberdeen and Stavanger. I got a message to come up to the radio room, so I left my little geological lab/portacabin and made my way across the deck through a howling gale, the rain driving horizontally and turning to sleet. I finally got to my destination freezing cold and soaked through. It was a call from my firm’s head office near Windsor.
“How do you fancy going to South America for a year?”
A year long contract in Venezuela had come up. “I suppose you want to know right now?” I said. “Yes,” I was told.
I looked out the window and thought, well it can’t be any worse than this, so I said that I would do it. I was told to get on the next helicopter or boat back to Stavanger and they would get someone out there to cover my next shift.
About four days later I was getting out of the plane at the airport in Maracaibo. During that year I met my wife in the firm’s office out there, married, eventually returning as a married man. Sometimes I wonder if had it been a lovely day, and I didn’t go, how my life would have been now. Later this year, hopefully, we will be celebrating 50 years together.
“How do you fancy going to South America for a year?”
A year long contract in Venezuela had come up. “I suppose you want to know right now?” I said. “Yes,” I was told.
I looked out the window and thought, well it can’t be any worse than this, so I said that I would do it. I was told to get on the next helicopter or boat back to Stavanger and they would get someone out there to cover my next shift.
About four days later I was getting out of the plane at the airport in Maracaibo. During that year I met my wife in the firm’s office out there, married, eventually returning as a married man. Sometimes I wonder if had it been a lovely day, and I didn’t go, how my life would have been now. Later this year, hopefully, we will be celebrating 50 years together.
Mine revolves around a skiing accident that ended my Army career.
Ended up convalescing at home despite being based in Germany at the time. I was at a pretty low point in my life at that time.
Went on a date, while still on crutches, she even picked me up from my parents as I couldn't drive and was living there, not much of a catch. We're now about 4 years in, I've got a new career and 2 wonderful children.
I've also ended up back in my home town, which I never really thought would happen but its great, not least because both sets of grandparents are local, free childcare
None of it would have happened if I hadn't crashed on the Luc Alphond in Serre Chavalier at the Army Champs.
Ended up convalescing at home despite being based in Germany at the time. I was at a pretty low point in my life at that time.
Went on a date, while still on crutches, she even picked me up from my parents as I couldn't drive and was living there, not much of a catch. We're now about 4 years in, I've got a new career and 2 wonderful children.
I've also ended up back in my home town, which I never really thought would happen but its great, not least because both sets of grandparents are local, free childcare
None of it would have happened if I hadn't crashed on the Luc Alphond in Serre Chavalier at the Army Champs.
In my year off before University I got some random work at a company where I learned a very obscure and niche skill that was already being superceded by more modern methods.
When I left University I went into the job market, at my first interview the chap said “what skills do you have?”. I rattled off all the stuff I’d learned at University. Then I added the niche skill with the caveat that the guy had probably never heard of it and it wouldn’t be relevant. As it happened they needed but couldn’t find anyone with that skill so I was hired on the spot.
On my first job for this employer I was in a hospital and I overheard a Dr say “of course what we really need is a widget that does x but it doesn’t exist”. In my arrogant youth I thought “with my niche skill I could make that”. So I worked for a year saving every penny I could then resigned and lived off my savings for another year while I developed the widget.
This led me into a career inventing medical devices, built a substantial company as a supplier to the NHS, and I eventually sold the business for a considerable sum. Along the way our devices have saved hundreds of lives and improved the quality of life for many thousands more.
All based on a chain of random encounters, any one of which not happening would have led me down a very different path.
When I left University I went into the job market, at my first interview the chap said “what skills do you have?”. I rattled off all the stuff I’d learned at University. Then I added the niche skill with the caveat that the guy had probably never heard of it and it wouldn’t be relevant. As it happened they needed but couldn’t find anyone with that skill so I was hired on the spot.
On my first job for this employer I was in a hospital and I overheard a Dr say “of course what we really need is a widget that does x but it doesn’t exist”. In my arrogant youth I thought “with my niche skill I could make that”. So I worked for a year saving every penny I could then resigned and lived off my savings for another year while I developed the widget.
This led me into a career inventing medical devices, built a substantial company as a supplier to the NHS, and I eventually sold the business for a considerable sum. Along the way our devices have saved hundreds of lives and improved the quality of life for many thousands more.
All based on a chain of random encounters, any one of which not happening would have led me down a very different path.
We spent years planning to emigrate to Australia. In-laws went first, paved the way and 3 years after we sold up the entirety of our lives to join them. All was good until about 8 months in when I started becoming severely depressed. I missed home, I missed family. I just wasn't clicking. I spoke to my partner who shared my concerns, which was a relief. I felt like I'd let her down and had been hiding it, but it transpired we both felt the same. I felt physically sick knowing we had maybe made such a huge mistake. We'd spend our evenings planning a return with what little savings we had left and both promised each other we would turn the experience into something positive. I took up work for several months to save, spent hours arranging transport for our dog and logistics for flights and hire cars, sorting out transferring money back to our English accounts, etc. On evenings walks we'd discuss what we'd like to do in life when we returned, she had always wanted to teach from a young age but after university she fell into a job and we couldn't afford to drop to one salary for her to train again.
Within two months of landing on the tarmac she had defied all the odds (it was very late in the academic year, and she had to pass several exams in a matter of weeks) and secured a placement at a very good school. I re-applied to university and successfully got on a course to hopefully pursue a career in a dream job - at the age of 30, no less.
We've been back a little over three years and she's now fully qualified and finishes her Masters degree in Education early next year. It really was her calling in life. I'm half way through second year (doing really well!) and I am at the stage of talking to industry, dipping my toes in to hopefully secure a role once I finish. We bought a lovely little apartment and have built ourselves back up, being more mindful of material possession's and just 'stuff' in general. It honestly felt like a clean slate.
It was the catalyst we needed all along, but just didn't know it.
Within two months of landing on the tarmac she had defied all the odds (it was very late in the academic year, and she had to pass several exams in a matter of weeks) and secured a placement at a very good school. I re-applied to university and successfully got on a course to hopefully pursue a career in a dream job - at the age of 30, no less.
We've been back a little over three years and she's now fully qualified and finishes her Masters degree in Education early next year. It really was her calling in life. I'm half way through second year (doing really well!) and I am at the stage of talking to industry, dipping my toes in to hopefully secure a role once I finish. We bought a lovely little apartment and have built ourselves back up, being more mindful of material possession's and just 'stuff' in general. It honestly felt like a clean slate.
It was the catalyst we needed all along, but just didn't know it.
Edited by Jimmy No Hands on Tuesday 1st February 09:01
Crossflow Kid said:
I used to work on my uncle’s farm. Wasn’t great. Just miles and miles of desert. Oh and two suns, that was pretty cool.
Then one day he bought some droids from the local scrap merchants…..
Very good. At least you managed to skip going to the academy the following yearThen one day he bought some droids from the local scrap merchants…..
Jules Sunley said:
Crossflow Kid said:
I used to work on my uncle’s farm. Wasn’t great. Just miles and miles of desert. Oh and two suns, that was pretty cool.
Then one day he bought some droids from the local scrap merchants…..
Very good. At least you managed to skip going to the academy the following yearThen one day he bought some droids from the local scrap merchants…..
I think the majority would say meeting their other half, certainly pre internet because your potential partners were just those people you met face to face.
I met my wife in a pub when out drinking in my home town. I didn't drink there regularly (I was in the forces at the time), and neither did she.
Nothing amazing, but a totally random meeting that started a 35 year relationship and a couple of kids.
I met my wife in a pub when out drinking in my home town. I didn't drink there regularly (I was in the forces at the time), and neither did she.
Nothing amazing, but a totally random meeting that started a 35 year relationship and a couple of kids.
Mrs geeks and I met when I was contracting, the day I started I needed to get a scan of my passport done as the agency had lost the copy I sent them, she had the only scanner on the floor on her desk so I asked to use it, she was busy and said could I leave it with her and she'd return it to me when she had a chance. Turns out we had the same birthday, the rest is history.
Xmas 2010 there was a heavy snow and the return flights kept getting cancelled day after day until boxing day. A friend invited me over for xmas dinner with her family and there was a girl there who was also having dinner with us who was a friend. she was only there for a couple of hours as she had to go into hospital. she went to work and i flew home the next day. We got together a month after and married 4 years later.
Job wise similar to the above. I dragged my anchor through school in the late 90s not knowing what to do and went on to study law in uni almost by default. First year was another drag but made friends and was more interested in the social side of it. Law itself at that point i could take or leave. A group of us all moved in together for second year and the craic was amazing. The issue was that we needed a 55% average to go from 2nd to 3rd year otherwise it was a case of take a year out. One evening in front of 'home and away; We all decided to buckle down, support each other and get through, and an easier effort the following year as the course focused on trade law which i actually enjoyed. I never looked back. I qualified as a barrister some years later.... All because of that Tuesday evening one February in 2001.
Job wise similar to the above. I dragged my anchor through school in the late 90s not knowing what to do and went on to study law in uni almost by default. First year was another drag but made friends and was more interested in the social side of it. Law itself at that point i could take or leave. A group of us all moved in together for second year and the craic was amazing. The issue was that we needed a 55% average to go from 2nd to 3rd year otherwise it was a case of take a year out. One evening in front of 'home and away; We all decided to buckle down, support each other and get through, and an easier effort the following year as the course focused on trade law which i actually enjoyed. I never looked back. I qualified as a barrister some years later.... All because of that Tuesday evening one February in 2001.
Edited by rastapasta on Tuesday 1st February 13:00
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