in yet another amazing case of serendipity

i was recently at school (in the united states)

attending a professional development session

with colleagues who were describing a wonderful project

they had undertaken with their students.

during the last school year they had worked on design thinking projects

intended to help our world’s environment in some way.

throughout the process

the teachers provided the students

with a wide range of sources of information having to do with their area of interest.

during our seminar, they passed around some of the sample articles they had used.

imagine my surprise when reading the random article that i was handed

and i saw the photographic credit on the back page

realizing that i had a connection to it.

it read:

‘michel porro – getty images.’ 

michel porro is a long time friend of mine who i happened to meet

when we were both working at the world cup in my city 24 years ago.

michel, at the time was a photojournalist from the netherlands, stationed in hong kong, working for reuters, and covering events all over the world. i was in advertising, taking time off to working in the media tent for the duration of the event. we met there and continued to run into each other in a variety of places, though we never had the chance to meet up outside of a working situation, try as we might.

we finally had the chance, and it was the last night before he was to leave. unfortunately brazil won, causing a chain of unusual events, that led to our last chance to meet not ever happening.

since that time, (24 years ago), we’ve stayed pen pals, and followed what’s happened in each other’s lives. i wrote an earlier blog about our long distance unlikely long term friendship and the link is below, but i’ve somehow lost the photo part of the post.

—

https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2014/06/22/what-a-wonderful-thing-is-the-mail-capable-of-conveying-across-continents-a-warm-human-hand-clasp-author-unknown/

—

upon seeing his name again last week, i texted to tell him about my surprise. he texted back surprised as well. our paths continue to cross in the most interesting ways.

to Michel

small world, Michel 

Sent from my iPhone

——–

Michel Porro

to me

Wow Beth, that is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. Boyat (the subject in the photo) is a quiet man with a big mission.  I met him twice for 2 photoshoots.

How are you doing? I’m in Italy at the moment. The world is a turbulent place isn’t it?

You do good work.

Best

Michel

—

“this idea of shared humanity and the connections that we make with one another – that’s what, in fact, makes life worth living.”

-clint smith