A Fortuitous Story

About a year ago I went to a restaurant with my friend Liz for lunch. Before leaving, I saw that the front desk had a bowl of fortune cookies out for customers to take. As I reached into the bowl, a single thought crossed through my mind: I HATE opening a fortune cookie and getting a lame, generic, unwanted phrase. Something like "Don't Worry. Be Happy." that leaves you feeling like you got nothing out of the experience (and yes, opening a fortune cookie should be an experience). So, quite selfishly, I decided to take two cookies out of the bowl in case one cookie provided me with a less than satisfactory fortune. 

Liz and I headed out to her car and I proceeded to take the first cookie out of its packaging and crack it open. Now, let me preface this by saying nothing like this has ever happened to me. It may be the most ironic situation I've ever experienced. I pulled out the thin piece of paper from my cookie and it read:

I could not stop laughing. I was completely in disbelief. After seeing these words emerge from my first cookie, I turned to Liz and said "my second cookie better have the greatest fortune ever in it or I will seriously hit someone." 

Now, you can imagine the tension was building. I took the second cookie out of its wrapper and hoped that I would find what I was looking for. I pulled the next fortune out of its shell and smiled as I read:

YESSS. Possibly the most fulfilling fortune I have ever received from a restaurant cookie. I've kept both these fortunes with me in my wallet ever since to remind me of two things: how funny life's coincidences are, and how staying focused on my goals will take me where I want to be. 

So there you have it. A hopefully entertaining short story for your Saturday afternoon. 

Side note: My review of Vampire Weekend's show at The Fox Theater is up on The Music Pirate and all of Flavia's photos from the night are on TMP's flickr account.