Photo by Tim Wildsmith

Dublin and the Book of Kells

Carolyn North
US

When I was newly married, my husband and I took a bicycle trip from Cork to Dublin in Ireland. We both were working across the Channel in Oxford that year; I was helping to catalog illustrated 12th-century manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. When we came to Dublin that spring, we went to Trinity College where the Book of Kells was on view to the public beneath locked glass, one page of the illustrated manuscript on view each day. I longed to see the whole book, but that of course was not allowed.

“I’m going to ask, anyway,” I told my husband, and I knocked on the office door, to his dismay. The door was answered by the one Irish person I knew, a fellow student from years before at an institute of medieval studies in France! We were astonished to meet again. I told her of my wish to see the whole, precious manuscript; she asked the curator, telling him that I had the right qualifications–which in fact, I did not have–and the next morning I was allowed to see the complete Book of Kells in a private room–as a visiting scholar!

My husband was astonished, but over the years he saw one synchronicity after another happen to me and decided he had married a witch!

Do you have your own story to share?

We invite you to join our global community by sharing your own story of a meaningful coincidence. It could be wondrous, funny, curious, unexplained, deeply profound, or anything in between! If you have more than one story to share, please create a separate story entry for each. Each story is limited to a maximum of 300 words.

View All Story Forum Posts

See more stories from around the globe of meaningful coincidences, synchronicity and serendipity!

Dad’s WWII Story

My dad didn't talk about the War. But on Thanksgiving 1968, we were at Mom’s ...

Read More

An Extraordinary Familial Coincidence

My ex-husband, Adam, and I met in San Francisco in the 1980s. Very soon after...

Read More

Coincidence Upon Coincidence

On my very first visit to New York City, I visited the Hotel McAlpin for a...

Read More

A Most Expensive Birthday Present

When personal computers became commonplace, I had little incentive to buy ...

Read More

Join Our Mail List

Receive the latest TCP news and announcements to awaken your mind and nourish your spirit. We will never share your email address; you can unsubscribe at any time.