What goes around comes around...

Everything happens for a reason. My Mum told me that once. I didn't believe her then, but I've seen it happen way too many times to discount it now.

I think it goes even deeper than that, though. Simply stating that "everything happening for a reason" implies that we have no control over what happens. I think that we do. We reap what we sow. What goes around comes around. We just don't always know what we're going to reap; what's going to come around.

How it Starts...
A friend in Nahanni Butte, Anna, asked her mom, Elsie, to make a pair of beaded moosehide slippers for Jade, since Jade had outgrown the pair that Valerie made for her.

I provided Anna with a tracing of Jade's feet on one trip to Nahanni Butte, and Elsie presented them to me on the next. I am always extremely touched when someone goes through the trouble to make a pair of slippers as a gift - even more so when they've never met the little girl that they're for.

Jade loved (and still loves) her slippers.

You never know where it's going to come from...
Last month, on the last day of Tim's visit (my brother), I took him to a store that I thought he would like. Jade was with us, wearing her slippers. One of the store owners looked at Jade's slippers and said, "Those look like Nahanni Butte slippers."

My jaw dropped. Slippers have different styles, depending on the region that they're from, but for someone to be so specific as to name the community - well, let's just say that I was shocked.

"They are! How did you know?" I asked.

"Are they? I lived there about twenty years ago..."

We got to talking, and, as it turned out, she was old friends with Elsie and lived in Nahanni Butte back when the community was little more than a school and a trading post. Everyone else still lived in the bush. Their kids were friends. She asked me about people and what they were up to and I was happy to fill her in on whereabouts of those that I knew. They had lost touch decades ago.

Time flew and, before we knew it, we had to leave so my brother could get to the airport on time. She wrote a quick note and attached her business card, so I could give it to Elsie the next time I was in Nahanni Butte.

It comes around...
On my last trip to Nahanni Butte, I was invited to have dinner with Anna's family. During our conversation, she mentioned an old childhood friend that she had been trying to locate, but that she hadn't been having any luck. She thought that she might be in the Whitehorse area and asked me to help. I asked for her friend's name and something clicked.

I couldn't remember the name on the note, but something about Anna's friend's name was familiar. In my rush to pack and get to the airport, I had forgotten to bring the note with me. I mentioned the note and told the story to Anna. Fawn was kind enough to fax me the note that evening.

The note was from Anna's long-lost friend's mother - Elsie's friend.

In Summary...
If Anna hadn't asked her mom to make the slippers for Jade, her long-lost friend's mother and I would have never met the way we did. If we hadn't met, Anna and her friend, and Elsie and her friend, might not have ever gotten a chance to be "reunited".

An incredible set of coincidences? Perhaps, but what goes around comes around.

How cool is that?