2003 was the first year I camped onsite, which is the best way to enjoy the magic. Magic?! At the Kerrville Folk Festival, it's called a Kerrmoment, an epiphany, a mind-bending convergence of coincidence. Mine occurred when I arrived after dark on Friday evening, in search of my pal Jim who had promised to save me a tent site. However, he wasn't at his landmark setup.

I looked around, pondering my options, when I saw a Venezuelan flag at the nearest camp. Against all odds, I was born and reared in that small, South American country. I ambled over to inquire. (An amble is faster than a mosey.) In the dark, I couldn't recognize the four faces eating dinner. Just as I was asking about the Venezuelan flag, I also saw a Singaporean flag next to it. This well and truly boggled my mind, as I had packed one of my several Singapore t-shirts to wear the very next day.

There seemed to be some confusing stammering to my question about the Venezuelan flag. Later I understood that the flag was a memento from a previous year's guest, without a direct connection to anybody present this year. (This little non-sequiter adds to the convergence.) Then two people spoke at once: I plowed ahead to ask about the Singaporean flag, and my pal Jim -- the guy I was seeking -- was one of the four eating in camp chairs. He had been invited over to share the meal at Camp Yeah Baby Lah!

It was at this moment that I began searching for a sturdy grasp on reality, as I seemed to be sliding inexorably into a punchline. However, the only thing that sprang to mind, and it did spring like a duck on a Junebug, was the word serendipity. Since you've read this far already, you might as well read the meaning and the story behind this wondrous word:

Serendipity is the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it; "the randomness of fate." The term was coined by English writer Horace Walpole on January 28, 1754, in a letter written to Horace Mann. He credited it to a "silly fairy tale" he once read called 'The Three Princes of Serendip'.

According to the fairy tale, three Persian princes sailed off to make their fortunes in the "land of silk", an island called Serendip. (Today, the island is known as Sri Lanka.) Along the way, the princes made all types of wondrous and delightful discoveries about the island, and learned things they never expected. One such learning was purported to be the discovery that a mule blind in its right eye had recently traveled the same road. This was discovered when they noticed that the grass had been eaten only on the left side of the road.