Wow, what can I say? It is now February 2024 and all I can say is that in the last 7 months my life has been like “Serendipity on Steroids” Just to make sure I wasn’t using a big word (Serendipity) inappropriately, I looked its meaning up in Websters Dictionary. Here is what good old Daniel said:
Serendipity – “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for”
Yup, that’s the word I AM seeking!
So, let’s get into it….” Serendipity on Steroids”
Having been married and now divorced twice I made the decision to spend my remaining life in New England close to two of my three daughters and both of my grandchildren. Having served 23 years in the army, I had travelled and lived in many places and frankly, I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of living in a cold and possibly snowy region. Having grown up in Michigan, I wasn’t afraid of bad weather, I just had memories of having to wake up early to deliver newspapers for seven years in northern New Jersey and really despising those rainy, snowy, and icy mornings when I had to get out in the winter weather and scrape ice off of my car at 4:00am before driving to the newspaper drop points (I say “points” as in the plural form of “point” as I would start by driving to the New York Times depot in East Orange, picking up and then delivering 150 NY Times newspapers, followed by driving to Livingston to the Star Ledger depot to pick up another 150 Star Ledgers to deliver them amongst the hilly streets of West Orange). (See story CK #21 entitled “Always Be the One They Are Asking For). By 7:00am, I would be done with my newspaper routes and be on my way to my full-time job as an engineer at New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. Like the old army poster said, “I did more things before 9:00am than most people do all day!” On many of those days I also taught adult education for AT&T employees in the evening. Yup, those were long days. But Maureen and I had made the decision when the children were young to have her be a stay-at-home mom, and I have no regrets. Like Frank Sinatra and Elvis used to sing in “My Way,” “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.”
The preceding paragraph was not a paid political announcement (look out they are about happen now that the presidential campaigns are underway), but just to explain why I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to making my final duty assignment (yes, I am a lifetime public servant and I am always on duty) in a wintry climate.
This is where the real Serendipity on Steroids begins, and I am going to number them. So, SOS#1 is first:
SOS#1 – “Moving from MD to MA” …Back in March 2023 I traveled to Massachusetts to visit my grandchildren, daughter, and son-in-law. The intention was to begin the process of finding a place for me to live close (within reason) to my grandchildren. I had already compiled a serious spreadsheet of over 25 apartment complexes throughout the Boston metropolitan area. I had preliminarily planned on moving at the end of May in conjunction with the end of my lease in Chestertown, Maryland. I didn’t want to be too close to Boston because I wasn’t sure what I could afford. Also, since it would be summer, I had decided to spend my first months in the Boston area driving for Lyft. I had driven for Lyft in Philly when I lived there and enjoyed the job; the driving, meeting people, and telling stories (and making decent money). After learning about my desire to drive for Lyft, my son-in-law recommended I consider Foxborough by saying words to the effect, “It’s a nice town with plenty to do socially, especially with Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place”
So, I sorted my spreadsheet by location and proceeded to schedule four appointments at different apartment complexes on one St Patrick’s Day in Foxborough. I was looking for to a single bedroom place with a garage and self-contained washer and dryer. At my first appointment I took a tour of a vacant apartment which was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I inquired as to availability and the agent told me that they had a one-bedroom with a private garage and washer/dryer coming available the last week of May (the EXACT timeframe I was hoping to move). Within one hour my search for a place to live was over. I applied for the opening, was accepted, and scheduled a move-in for June 1, 2023. Ironically, while on the tour at my first appointment, representatives from my other three Foxborough locations had called and left me voicemail messages apologizing for having to postpone our appointments for that day… I don’t claim to be Irish, but on St. Patrick’s Day 2023, I got lucky! (By the way, they say that “Luck is preparation meeting opportunity” and I certainly had both going on at once that day!)
SO, I moved into my apartment in Foxborough on June 1, 2023, had my driver’s license, auto registration, and auto inspection by June 2, 2023, and was driving for Lyft by June 6, 2023, the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in WWII. June 6 was my own personal “B-Day”, the day I hit the streets of Boston driving people all around the Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island area.
Next up will be SOS#2, a story about how my Lyft driving assignment triggered my current love affair with the Town of Foxborough and the wonderful people who live here. See you soon!
Joe Sanders sporting the Lyft jacket I received after giving 1000 rides with a perfect “5” rating
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