I would like to tell you a story about how I received the present commission that I am working on. It’s a story of fate and how it can take two separate lives and intertwine them, in my case resulting in a lovely friendship with mutual benefits. I don’t much believe in events simply being a coincidence. As one of my favorite TV characters observed: The universe is never that lazy. In retrospect, as my story played out I could feel the hand of fate guiding me to where I needed to be and in some instances it even forced me there.

The story of this commission began 17 years ago when I was working at Olivet College in Michigan. I had a class of football players who were probably not going to return for a second semester. Many of the football playing students go to college hoping to be scouted by the NFL. Some of them drop out after the football season ends and these students were no exception. They were bright, funny and memorable and I was very fond of them. We developed a mutual respect and had a lot of fun during the first semester but sadly, I did not see them after that.

Fast forward 17 years to 2018 when one Saturday evening my friend Sonia and I decided to go to Lansing for dinner and a movie. We ate and then went to the movie theater where we found that the movie we wished to see was sold out. Rats! So, Sonia decided we would go look at cars. I needed a new car as mine had 199,000 miles on it. I hate buying new cars, it’s such a chore and the sales people are usually so aggressive, so I have a tendency to drive a vehicle until I am leaving a trail of parts on the road behind me. We drove around to different car dealers and looked at cars for a while and decided to do one more thing and then go home. I saw the Barnes and Nobles and on an impulse decided we should go there. As we stood in one of the aisles looking at books we had been discussing earlier, a tall man walked by us and went to a specific book on the shelf and pulled it out. When he turned around he smiled at me and said "You’re Ms. Gleave! As it turned out he was one of those football players. I remembered him when he told me his name, and he said he was selling cars now for a large GMC dealer in Lansing. He was a warm and lovely person and I got hugs which pleased me most! On our way home I told Sonia I thought I was supposed to buy a car from him. The universe wanted me to. Otherwise why would he be put in my path again so blatantly? So, I made a mental note to find him again. Meanwhile, in the following days I shopped around for cars, but it always ended up the same, the salesmen were as I remembered them, high pressure, never giving me a moment to think, so stubbornly I would decline each time. This always happens when I go against what fate has worked so hard to set up for me! So, finally I called my football player/car salesman and made arrangements to meet with him.

At our first meeting I understood why I was being led to him. He was very kind, in no hurry, giving me lots of time to think and taking time to explain everything I needed to know. The whole dealership was this way, it was quiet in there, the staff was warm and friendly without being aggressive, they were even this way with each other. I was in car buying heaven! Best of all he brought out the most perfect car and of course, I bought it! As we met several times during the car buying process we spoke of fate and how it had brought us together and he told me why he was in the book store at that precise time. A week prior his wife had asked him to pick up a book for her called Love and Respect . He said he always tries to do favors like that immediately when asked, so it was unlike him to delay this and that day she had reminded him. But, as it turned out it put him in the bookstore at exactly the time he needed to be there to find me!

During one meeting I had given him my business card and he told me he was moving into a new house and had needed art for his walls. He thought one of my large format photomicrographs would look great over his couch. So, I am working on this to get him as perfect a piece of art as he got me in this car.

In the end, whether you think of it as God’s Plan, fate, karma, the universe acting, or just a coincidence, you can’t argue with the outcome! We reconnected in a wonderful way, we both got our commissions and as for me, I will never fight fate as it is a losing prospect every time. If you trust in it, it will lead you to the most delightful and beneficial things. Also, now that I think about it, I guess the universe decided it had to bring in someone from 17 years ago, because I wasn’t being aggressive enough in my art marketing efforts with people of today. I’ll have to look into that...