Serendipity strikes Fern Forest


“Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, it’s a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan,” says Dean in the film Serendipity. It’s Tara and Caine’s favorite movie because the plot imitates real life for them.


For ten years, neither knew the other existed, even though they’d met briefly several times through mutual friends.


“She was my friend’s wife’s sister’s friend,” Caine says—or something like that.


“Someone says we met at a bowling alley party, but I don’t remember him,” Tara adds.


What does it take for a girl to notice a good-looking, fit, blue-eyed, eligible guy?


Nearly a decade later, their best friends got engaged to each other. They were each invited to the destination wedding held on an island off Key West. Caine was best man, and oh wasn’t he dashing all spiffed up?


Serendipity finally struck. Why hadn’t they noticed each other before?


Caine is a can-do sort of guy. He’s a driver for Fed Ex and cruised over the Appalachian Gap to get to Fern Forest and then made it easily up our steep, snow-covered driveway in his 4WD truck. And talk about high energy. Give him the most precipitous slope for skiing or sledding and he’ll be happy. And Tara will match him in courage and vigor.


Tara brought Pearl, her Boston terrier, and we doggie sat while they went out to dinner the first night. Tara was worried that Pearl would be nervous when they left, but she curled up on the sofa and took a nap while they wolfed down dinner at the Bobcat. Pearl seemed pretty content at Fern Forest—but, then, it’s a laid-back kind of place.


While Tara got ready to go out the second night, Caine helped me in the kitchen. I’ve broken my wrist, and he opened jars and cranked the pepper mill. He’s a handy guy all around. From the way they looked at each other at breakfast, I’d say Tara thinks so, too.


In the movie Serendipity, Dean says, “If we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call ‘fatum,’ what we currently refer to as destiny.” In Tara and Caine’s case, destiny takes its own sweet time, but I’m glad it finally smiled on them. They sure were smiling when they loaded Pearl back into the truck and waved goodbye.


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