SERENDIPITIES

My mother has a friend named "Antonio," who is a contemporary of hers (around 80 years old) and has been her friend for as long as I can remember. But Antonio is no ordinary guy. I don't even know how many things he does, but he holds a degree in philosophy, was on the verge of becoming a priest but left the seminary, and speaks French, Italian, English, Latin, and a bit of Russian, in addition to Spanish, obviously; he has been a language and philosophy professor at several of the most prestigious universities in the country, paints beautifully in oils and watercolors, is currently the official historical chronicler of our municipality, and, from what I gather when I hear him speak, he might have read practically about anything that has ever been written on Earth. Honestly, "Uncle Antonio" (as my sisters affectionately call him) is the kind of polymath you rarely encounter in person in a lifetime. But the story here is rather anecdotal, as the title of this publication traces back to a time, several years ago now, when I was chatting with Antonio at my mother's house and he said to me regarding my photographs: "Jesús, I love looking at the 'serendipities' you capture in the streets of this town of ours." And, man, to be honest, I was left speechless for a moment, thinking: "What the hell does 'serendipities' even mean, for heaven's sake?" 😂... And I don't know how many of you here know and use this word, but back then, hearing it left me completely baffled 😂, as I didn't remember ever hearing it before. However, that time, I thanked Antonio for his kindness, chatted with him a bit more, and after excusing myself, I went to look up the meaning of "serendipities" on the internet 😂... And well, I found it quite lovely as a reference for my photographic work, since it's about something like "finding something valuable or very good, unexpectedly or when looking for something else," and that, it seems to me, describes quite well a lot of what my street photography work here in my town is about...