The Fates or Moirae, were weavers of destiny. They were Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis, the measurer, and Atropos, who snipped the thread. They are there from the moment of our birth when the distaff is threaded, throughout the measure of our life, and at the very end, when the thread is cut.
I remember as a little girl my father reading me this story in Turkish one day up in my bedroom before bed. Having a vivid imagination as a child, this story made an impression on me: somehow we are all connected, and that past, present & future are all intertwined in their own way.
The Greeks are not the only ones who have legends around fate and string. There is an East Asian legend of the Red String of Fate or Destiny. According to this myth, the gods tie a red cord around the ankles of those that are to meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way.
Kismet in Turkish means “fate.” In Turkey, when something coincidental or beneficial happens, someone always quietly says “Kismet” with others in the room nodding in agreement.
Today, I could hear Kismet being whispered around me while I was at a Women’s Networking Luncheon. I have been pushing myself to go out and meet new people to promote my business. While waiting for our pizza, I turned to the lady sitting next to me and asked her: “SO…what do you do?…What’s Your story?”
Imagine my surprise when she took a deep breathe in and said: “I am a mom who is in transitioning into a new phase of her life as I divorce my Turkish husband.”
Yep, been there done that. I am on the other side now. At first, she understood that I had recently been divorced until I explained that I had recently divorced my Turkish husband. I really did understand her situation.
It is always amazing for me to see someone in need relax when they feel another understands their problem, but to watch her release and allow the situation to unfold was truly a memorable moment. You never know another until you have walked a mile in their shoes, right? Well, here I was, right in front of her: I had made it through to the other side, was OK and happy. In that moment, you could see that she knew she would be too. She also realized that she wasn’t alone anymore.