Serendipity...

If you've got chemistry, having no plan is sometimes the best plan. Stuff happens. It's as if the universe hands out rewards for people who trust in chance and emanate a combined spirit. A completely impromptu visit to Venice Beach yields a completely unexpected, full-blown display of fireworks at the Pacific's edge... what's the occasion? Who knows? Who cares?

The word "serendipity" comes to our language from a letter Horace Walpole wrote to Horace Mann on January 28, 1754. In this letter he refers to, "a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip in which, as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."

You want more? Julius H. Comroe, a biomedical researcher, suggests that "serendipity is looking for a needle in a haystack and finding the farmer's daughter." In 2000, The Boat Owners Association of the United States reported that Serendipity was the tenth most popular name for pleasure craft. In that same year, serendipity was also voted Britain's favorite word.