We headed toward the small town of Forks where we'd be staying for the next two nights while we explored more of the coast and the rainforest.

A bit of context for this next little portion of the tale:

Many years and what seems like a lifetime ago, I lived in a little log cabin on 30 acres which was landlocked inside of 300 acres belonging to a Zen monastery in northern Kentucky. Zen Forest, it was called. My neighbors were Amish families, Vietnamese monks, and Wendell Berry.

During this span of time, I began blogging. These were the good old blog days of old, with list style layouts that you had to scroll all the way through before reaching the next post. Most of us back then used Blogspot.

I established online friendships back then with several other bloggers that endure to this day. One of them was Forest Lass (that was her name at the time, now she goes by __wolf_queen__ on Instagram). Sara is her name and back in the blog days of old she lived on a quaint farmstead in Turkey where she raised turkeys, gardened, and shared bits and pieces of her rural life, much like I did.

Years ago, Sara and her family moved to America. She's now married and living in Vermont, but where did she happen to be this particular weekend? The Olympic Peninsula.

We didn't arrange a meeting because we were both only there for a limited amount of time and trying to squeeze in plenty of adventures I assumed. I had no idea where I would be when, whether or not I'd have cell service, I didn't want to intrude on her time, I'm introverted anyway, and all that. So before leaving home, we simply grinned (via emojis online) and said Wouldn't it be funny if we ran into one another? and Have a great time exploring! and that was it really.

End of context.

Back to the evening after we'd been exploring the coast all day, having just arrived into Forks.

By this time I was looking like a proper hooligan - all drenched in rain and salty sea air, hair hanging down in strings, wet sand-covered dress, mud-covered Muck boots, and a goofy elated grin from the day's adventures.

We were tired and rather hungry but Forks offered few options in the way of dining. There was a pizza place, the hotel receptionist told us, but that's about all at this hour. So off to the pizza place we went!

I went in to order while Eric stayed at the car to switch into dry socks and organize the car. As I stood in line carefully thinking out the 5 toppings I'd choose - spinach, garlic, pepperoni, black olives, jalapenos - a fellow walked through the line on his way to the bathroom. This fellow was unmistakably Sara's husband who I'd seen in Instagram photos. I had a few seconds of the confusion a tired brain feels when it's somewhere very unfamiliar but recognizes a face, then I began to look around the restaurant, deeply humored at the irony and happenstance that was taking place. This huge peninsula, and here we both are, unplanned. How perfect. My eyes drifted over all the tables full of people before spotting a solo person in a booth, with dark thick hair. I left my place in line and slid right into the booth with Sara, who looked at me shocked for a couple of seconds before realization set in and we both laughed and embraced. Zen Forest and Forest Lass meet in the flesh, and the odds! It was wonderful.



Sara oozed a sincerity and a sweetness that bolstered my affection immediately, and I'm sure if we lived near enough, we'd become the greatest of friends.

Isn't that a great story though? I loved this chance encounter so much, and the organic way it worked itself out, free of control.

That evening, bellies full of pizza, and deeper in love with the peninsula, we enjoyed the deepest sleep, despite being full of excitement for what lay ahead tomorrow.