Life is an interesting place. It feels like when you are open to receive, the magic unfolds itself in different shapes and forms. There were times I called this faith, there were times it was just a magic and a lot of it a wonderful coincidence. None is any less pleasing than the other, reminds me of  our humanness. How much we depend on not only family and friends but strangers. How much a stranger’s act strengthens our connection to life.

In 1994, on a cold January morning I was on a plane to Ankara. As it’s in my nature, I smile and chat. I used to work as an air-stewardess. There was a passenger sitting towards the back end of the plane. We started chatting and he asked me some questions about where to stay, where to eat and what to do in North Cyprus as he was planning to visit with his family. He asked if I could mail him some brochures as internet wasn’t this ‘amazing’ in those days.

At the time, I think we had to work for a year to qualify for an international flight as a bonus and I picked Germany for the destination as my best friend was in Munich. When I checked his address, it said “German consulate Ankara”. Of course I started talking about my holiday plans and the visa that I had to obtain. Right there, on the plane I gave him my passport details and called him a day before I arrived in Ankara to find my name listed at the gate as a guest. There was a massive queue outside as Germany is a very popular destination in Turkey. It took less than half an hour to walk in and out with a visa and the next morning I was in Munich in freezing cold. I don’t know what I was thinking,  visiting Germany in the middle of winter. But the story stays with me as a warm memory…

In 2002, I was managing a small apart hotel in Side, in the south coast of Turkey. This was the time Bilgin and I were planning to move to Australia. Although Bilgin was born here and was an Australian citizen, I still had to find a sponsor for my migration as he wasn’t based here. Once you apply for the visa, the consulate gives you a three month time to come up with a sponsor and let me tell you it’s not easy. First of all it’s hard to find people here all the way from Turkey and even harder to find someone to actually fit the ‘criteria’.

Over a bbq dinner one night, I was chatting with some guests who were visiting from England and certainly not expecting a surprise. Towards the end of the night, a Mr Michael Green turned around and said he had a friend living in Melbourne that he could ask, once he was back in the UK. I worked in hospitality for a long time and people do make a lot of promises in the spirit of the moment but Michael Green did actually keep his promise. He got back to me with a name whom was willing to sponsor me despite not knowing who I was, purely relying on Michael Green’s word. I sent all my paper work to him here in Melbourne to discover that he wasn’t eligible. Michael Green tried another friend, a high profile doctor at Monash Children’s Hospital. So my papers got passed around and reached a Mr Victor Yu. And that certain Mr Yu ended up -pure coincidence- flying not only to Turkey but just to the next town, Belek which was only forty minutes from Side for a medical conference. A fascinating man himself, he signed all my papers over a Mediterranean lunch. It was just unbelievable that Mr Green had approached this guy all the way from England and coincidentally, out of all the places, Victor Yu’s conference was happening somewhere near me.

My life has blessed me with so many wonderful people and coincidences that make me smile everytime I think of them…