Serendipity

Last week I had to fly to New York City on business. I had hoped to be able to stay home and attend the meetings virtually. Then I received the invitation to be the emcee for the conference. Unfortunately you can't do that from a distance and so I flew out on Monday and planned to fly back early Friday morning. Towards the end of the week it looked like I could fly back on Thursday evening as our meetings would be completed by 2:30pm.

Usually there are a lot of dinners and socializing events when a large number of colleagues descend upon an office for such a conference. When I booked my flights and hotel, I assumed there would be something to celebrate the end of our working sessions. One of my coworkers based in New York pulled me aside on the first day and let me know he would not be able to attend anything on Thursday evening. Naturally I inquired why. He said that he and his wife planned to attend a screening of "Better Off Dead" where the main actor, John Cusack would attend and talk about making the movie.

"Better Off Dead" is one of my favorite movies from my teenage years as it came out in 1985. Naturally I told my coworker that sounded great. Next I did an Internet search to see if I could get more details on the event. I discovered they still had tickets and so I asked my coworker if I could attend with him. He knew my love of the movie and seemed excited to have me join him. He let me know what seats he and his wife purchased and I tried to get seats close by. 

The screening exceeded my expectations. How often do you get to see a movie with a bunch of fans that know all of the little jokes that most people miss unless they have seen it many times? Furthermore, tickets cost a lot, so only the most loyal of fans attended and so I experienced no distractions during the film.

John came up on stage shortly after the film ended and shared some interesting perspectives on making the film as well as his lengthy career. Then he opened it up to the audience for us to ask questions. I had one I wanted to ask but it became clear that John has made so many movies and made this one so long ago that he might not be able to answer it, so I remained quiet. I didn't want to put him on the spot and ask a question he couldn't answer. Others asked very good questions and I appreciated the extra hour added to the movie to listen to the main actor.

I got home and my wife asked me how I enjoyed the screening. I told her it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I enjoyed it. Should a similar activity come up in the future, I don't need to do it again. My kids are all jealous as they are fans of the movie and would also liked to attend. Unfortunately the only reason I did is because of a series of events that aligned in my favor. One that stands out is that I could find the screening with a quick Internet search and see that tickets could be purchased at the last minute. I call that serendipity.