Picture of the double rainbow we had over Seattle on Thursday, taken by Tim Durkan.

This is the fourteenth edition of my weekly newsletter, The B-Roll. Thank you for coming along for the ride. If you think someone in your life might also enjoy these letters, please share this with them.

Hi friend,

Do you believe in serendipity? Besides being one of my favorite words in the English language and a great movie, it's such a lovely notion. My life has had a few serendipitous encounters lately, to where I'm pretty sure the Universe* is just using me for target practice. 

As some of you know, I'm hoping to split my time evenly between Turkey and Seattle and this next trip will be the first attempt that a full 6 months in Istanbul. I've been really excited about it, but lately, I've also been anxious about missing out on things here. And wondering if I can really have a life in Turkey because maybe 3 months was just a fluke. Let me share a list of the ways the Universe has thrown things at me:

- There have been two Turkish bands who came to Seattle on tour in the past *month*, which is a rare occurrence.

- I went to see an Austrian movie during the Seattle International Film Festival and the lead actor was Austrian and TURKISH. There was also a Turkish film screening at the festival. We have a separate Seattle Turkish Film Festival, so it's rare for there to be a Turkish film in SIFF.

- A friend of mine posted about an interview she was going to be doing and the first thing I noticed was that her guest's name was Turkish. And then I realized that she's the founder of TurkishWIN, an association for women with ties to Turkey. I'm now a member.

- And finally, the theme for CreativeMornings this month is Kismet, which was set by the Istanbul chapter. 

Just.

I mean.

COME ON.

So, it's clear that I'm on the right path and I need to feel confident about making a real attempt at making a life for myself in Turkey and finding the balance during my time there & my time here in Seattle throughout the year.

***

I do want to talk a little about kismet, which is actually a Turkish word, though it was adopted into English in the 1800s, skewing its original meaning to be fame and fortune. Kismet derived from the Arabic word 

qisma

, meaning one’s portion or lot in life. For us, kismet is a little pocket of life carved out just for you, a doorway into impossible dreams that can bring chance encounters, good fortune, and opportunities, and it's up to you to meet them.

So, I feel like everything that has been happening is my kismet opening up to me and it's up to me to walk through the door.

***

It is a little scary, I'm not going to lie. When I was gone for just 2-3 months, it was easier because my routine here in Seattle wasn't too disrupted since it was also over the holidays. But 6 months means that I'm going to need to set new traditions with my Seattle family for the time period I'm gone, and then can fall back into the regular routine when I return. 

One of those is my Friday night dinners with my best friends and their son. It's essential and foundational to my life and my sanity. We were able to keep it up during the pandemic, even if it was take-out at their house. Since I lived alone, their home was my second home during the peak pandemic times when we weren't going into each other's homes. 

I started thinking about it as we were eating dinner last night. I want to hear about Max's week and his days at school. So maybe we video chat once or twice a month. Whatever the new routine will be, it will take some time for me to get over my insecurities and truly embrace my kismet.

Do you believe in kismet? Or serendipity? Or fate?

*

A quick note: Whenever I say the Universe, I actually mean God, but since I try to keep my faith as personal and private as possible, I use the Universe in public. But this is my safe space, so I hope you don't mind me sharing that.

***

Since I mentioned the movie, I have to drop this in here, because it's one of my favorite parts of the entire movie.

"Jonathan Trager, prominent television producer for ESPN, died last night from complications of losing his soul mate and his fiancee. He was 35 years old. Soft-spoken and obsessive, Trager never looked the part of a hopeless romantic. But, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the Agatha Christie-like pursuit of his long reputed soul mate, a woman whom he only spent a few precious hours with. Sadly, the protracted search ended late Saturday night in complete and utter failure. Yet even in certain defeat, the courageous Trager secretly clung to the belief that life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of his dear friend, Dean Kansky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of the New York Times, described Jonathan as a changed man in the last days of his life. "Things were clearer for him," Kansky noted. Ultimately Jonathan concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call "fatum", what we currently refer to as destiny."

LANGUAGE & CULTURE CORNER:

Since I ended up diving into kismet in the first part of the letter, I'm going to skip this week. But there's going to be a special Culture Corner next week diving a little more into a Turkish tradition that we don't talk about often.

SHARING CORNER:

• Ali A Olomi is a historian of Middle East & Islam, and he does these amazing Twitter threads on astrology & folklore in Islam and I honestly look forward to them every week. He has a tweet organizing all the threads he's done on Twitter, but he also has a Patreon.

• I went a little out of my comfort zone and filmed an IG Reel this week and kind of don't hate it.

• Do you know Marcel the Shell? I'm very excited for the movie tomorrow. (Trailer)

• I really enjoyed this interview with Christine Emba on how we can build a new understanding of what constitutes "good" sex.

What have you been reading, watching, listening to lately? 

***

Thanks for reading this far, friend. As with everything in life, this is a continuous work-in-progress and you can always hit "Reply" to give me feedback, commentary, or your thoughts on the topic of the letter.Until next time, I wish you a sane and healthy week.With love,