Member-only story
Serendipity
Sometimes big changes are not planned.
In early 1990, my wife Rhonda and I received an unexpected and surprising long-distance phone call. It was an invitation by some close friends to apply for open positions at a boarding school in Lake Placid, NY. Our friends who were teaching at the school, put our names forward as prospective candidates who would be a good fit for the school. Although we had not even considered such a major change in our lives, the timing was good. We were then both working in Singapore and our children, who were US citizens, had never lived in the US. This opportunity offered us an easy and smooth transition into the US. The school needed teachers who would also serve as houseparents and the positions included year-round room and board on top of low but decent salaries. Having a home and meals provided meant that we could even save a little of our salaries. We had a phone interview with the head of school and were offered the positions.
We gave notices to our employers in Singapore and excitedly prepared to make the move in three months. We had accumulated a lot of “stuff” from our years living in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. We culled as much as we could and packed and shipped the rest to a storage facility in Lake Placid to await our arrival.
