October 2016

Serendipity. It’s fortuitous happenstance, right? We, Stacy Lyn’s Traveling Socks, would agree that our primary purpose is to accompany Stacy Lyn on her plethora of travels – hither and thither, near and far. We expected nothing more than to do so on our autumn 2016 jaunt to Motor City. To be a Traveling Sock is not a disappointing existence. We see so many interesting things when we emerge from the sock drawer for parts unknown. For instance, the General Motors Renaissance Center located on the Detroit River. With such interesting architecture – a series of three buildings connected as one – we could not help but to wonder, “What is this design supposed to represent?” Perhaps, as someone told us, it’s supposed to look like gears. After all, this is Motor City. It’s a possibility, but our imagination could not entertain the idea. It just looked like a most interesting building – and one where we got lost inside the maze on more than one occasion. Take a look at the bottom-right photograph. What’s the verdict? Does it look resemble gears in the furthest reaches of your imagination? When we ventured outside the hotel, we fell upon another curious happenstance – Milliken Park and Harbor, where nestled between the river and downtown were a park, a wetland, and a lighthouse. We felt oddly at home as the crickets chirruped in the swampy mess and the warm breezed caressed our wool. Then we fell upon an odd statue at the end of the bog, one which posed many questions and offered few answers. How lucky were we to chance upon the christening of the U.S.S. Detroit LCS? That doesn’t happen every day! Of course, all of this excitement was well and good, but the real serendipitous event occurred when Stacy Lyn received a text message saying, “I’m here.” It came from her beloved Constance, a kid she knew from her teaching days. A kid who became like her own, but, like so many others, began the first chapter of her adult life far from home just as Stacy Lyn began the next chapter of her life abroad. You see, Gentle Reader, life happened, and Stacy Lyn and Constance lost contact with each other. Then cyberspace happened, and they reconnected online, but not in person. Never in person. Stacy Lyn was here and Constance was there. In this wide world, they were never in the same place at the same time. Until Detroit. That’s when Constance told Stacy Lyn, “I’m here.” They met, they lunched, they reminisced, but the most exciting news that Stacy Lyn discovered was that there is not only a Constance, but a mini-Constance! Stacy Lyn’s weary heart was warmed a hundred times over by the knowledge that Constance has found a place in the world where she is enveloped by love.

Yes, friends, the most propitious happenstance that occurred in Detroit was the rekindling of friendship – the likes of which time and distance will never erase. (Love you, Constance! <3)