On serendipity, zemblanity: My life's unforeseen events

On a cab ride, the skies darkened and there was no doubt a heavy rain would greet me at my destination. Rats. I had lost my umbrella in another cab a few days ago.

You didn’t happen to find an umbrella left behind awhile back? The cabbie popped the trunk, pulled to the curb and we got out.

Sure enough. My umbrella was among dozens forgotten by other passengers. Life is serendipitous.

Years ago, I saw a woman being interviewed on a morning talk show. I had seen that person the very day before on a street in New York City. Turns out, she was a famous, an accomplished mountain climber.

Serendipity is a chance meeting or happy occurrence.

We’ve all had these experiences. I seem to collect them as proof that life is unexpected and its events are often unforeseen.

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What about an unwanted or unneeded chance meeting? We all have these, as well.

Here’s one. In Washington, D.C., holidays are celebrated on the Capitol grounds with thousands attending. I had a funny, sinking feeling one holiday that I knew someone in the crowd. Well, of course I did. Thousands always gathered out there for holiday picnics.

Moments later my ex-husband emerged from a group nearby. I hadn’t seen him in years, and I certainly didn’t expect to see him then.

This chance meeting is called zemblanity. An unhappy, unexpected and unlucky experience or discovery. It’s the opposite of serendipity.

Here are two of my zemblanity experiences, both involving leather coats.

One time I dropped a soiled leather coat off at the dry cleaners, knowing full well I probably couldn’t come up with the money to pay for the cleaning. I never picked the coat up.

A few years later, I think, I found myself at the same cleaners staring at a rack of unclaimed clothing. There it was. My expensive, swing leather coat in a plastic bag looking swell.

Another zemblanity moment for me occurred when an airplane flight overbooked, leaving me without a seat assignment.

Circling the terminal, I searched for a new flight. I carried in my sweaty arms and hands an ankle-length leather coat that got heavier and heavier by the hour.

Zemblanity. I pitched the coat in the trash, and the unwanted, unlucky experience was over.

Once a group of reporters and I gathered around a boiler at an industrial coal-producing facility. I snapped some photos of the boiler and flames.

Before lunch, we left our cameras and notepads on a table. Later, I grabbed the camera to look through the images, but found nothing.

Zip. Nada. No pictures. Had they been deleted? Could I have forgotten to load film? Did the company fiddle with my camera?

I never figured that one out. Zemblanity.

Another zemblanity happened in Pittsburgh as I was traveling by cab from the airport to a downtown conference. Upon arriving, I could not find my billfold to pay the fare.

I bargained with the cabbie, who agreed to let me forward the money when I got home. Someone at the conference lent me some money to take a return cab to the airport.

What an unlucky and embarrassing zemblanity that whole day was. My check to the cabbie was soon dropped in the mail on this one, along with a nice tip.

Here’s my favorite much-welcomed and happy serendipity. Once on a business trip, I boarded a plane to D.C.

My assigned seat was next to Paul Newman, and I had to climb over him to get to it.

Newman asked what I did for a living, and I told him I was a news reporter. Oddly enough, I had just seen the movie"Absence of Malice" about a reporter starring Newman and Sally Field. We chatted about it. Serendipity.

Newman was headed to D.C. to meet up with Carl Sagan. Next evening, the news focused on the collaboration between Newman and Sagan on some environmental issues.

Our lives are filled with numerous serendipitous and zemblanity experiences.  What are some of yours?

Andrea Chancellor has more than 20 years in newspaper and magazine journalism, and 20 years in corporate public relations.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Andrea Chancellor: My life is been full of serendipity, zemblanity