Thank you, Horace Walpole,

for SERENDIPITY:

‘the happy knack of making

unexpected and delightful discoveries by accident’

(Cassells, Hertfordshire, UK)

‘the faculty of making happy discoveries by accident’

(Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK)

 

Hmmm – ‘knack’ and  ‘faculty’ -

words of repetition

indicative of a predisposed nature

a pattern of behaviour

 

Hmmm  - ‘discoveries’ -

physical, emotional or intellectual?

or a complexity of all three?

 

Hmmm – ‘by accident’ -

IMHO, nothing ever happens by ‘accident’

it only seems so in the immediacy

Be that as it may

 

Hmmm – ‘happy and delightful’ -

always viewing life on the bright side

a positive attitude

an innate innocence

a practised sense of wonderment

 

Hmmm – ‘unexpected’ –

bit of a boner that one

if it is ‘by accident’ surely it is ‘unexpected’

except perhaps a mindset open to

the unusually simple or the simply unusual

awareness not stunted by the mundane

 

Hmmm – OK - OK -

Let a Smile Be your Umbrella!

Shout Hallelujah! C'mon Get Happy!

The Power of Positive Thinking!

Pollyanna Syndrome!

 

Thank you, Horace Walpole, for reading fairy tales.

But I'm not entirely satisfied with your word.

Something just doesn't 'ring right'.

250 years is a long time to keep a succinct meaning.

Methinks a little sleuthing is in order.

 

Cynthia Buell Thomas