How a Chance Meeting Can Change a Life

I started this post at the end of May at home in Nova Scotia, but I’m posting this from Spain, a few days into my stay in Seville.

——————

The weather has been awful in Nova Scotia. It’s been a mix of wet, gloomy, grey days, rarely reaching over 10 degrees Celsius. I used to say we have three or maybe four good months of weather here in Nova Scotia; I’m starting to think that may be the case.

But this morning is different; the last three days have been spectacular. I was outside this morning with my cat Poppy so she could walk around the yard. She has a leash. She loves being outside but has not had much chance to do so for months. She sniffs the air mostly from the bottom step of the deck. Sometimes, she’ll want to walk around the yard where she bites at the grass. She has fun, and after 20 minutes, she wants to go back inside. She’s a good cat.

I’m a cat person. I’ve grown up with cats my whole life. My love for cats started very young and continues to this day, 47 years into this life of mine.

I just finished Nala’s World, a memoir by Dean Nicholson about his journey cycling around the world. A book about travel and a cat? It sounded exactly like what I would enjoy.

The book was first released in 2020, and given its presence on social media, I am surprised I had never heard of this story until just a month ago. Soon after embarking on this cycling journey, he found an abandoned kitten on a remote road near Bosnia. What follows is Dean’s transformative adventure with this cat, whom he adopted on his journey and named Nala. The book chronicles their adventures cycling for two years together and their interactions with the people they meet, the surprises, and the kindness found in people worldwide.

When his Instagram account started to take shape and his YouTube channel gained more subscribers, people from all over, following his adventures, offered heartfelt messages of encouragement and advice when needed (Nala did have to cross borders, and required vet visits, and paperwork to show for both). Many unexpected and welcome acts of generosity, including accommodations and meals, and more, Nala and Dean had a global following.

Nala became much more than a travel companion. Her presence gave Dean a new sense of responsibility and purpose, shifting his primary focus to caring for her well-being. He still cycled immensely, but she was his number one. His routes changed, his destinations altered. The book concludes in late 2020, but their global adventures continue today.

So why am I discussing this book? Well, it got me thinking about the unexpected positives of travelling. Travel is about self-discovery and personal growth. It’s not just about seeing new places, it’s about breaking free from a familiar routine and discovering beyond the norm. We don’t know what’s out there, and we don’t know how we will respond to it or how our travels will impact us.

It’s also about the unexpected. You can anticipate what’s in store for you when you travel, and you can plan, but the unexpected encounters or events often make it the most memorable. For Dean, meeting Nala was not transformative on a life-altering level. It allowed him to appreciate life better, understand people and cultures, and witness firsthand the good in people. Finding Nala changed the trajectory of his trip and his life. He wasn’t on a timeline exploring the world anymore. His priority was Nala. His journey would continue, but he was in no rush to finish. She would be there with him.

Soon after concluding this book, I couldn’t help but reflect on what came before. The second half of 2024 was a difficult few months for me, and part of that difficulty was losing my other, older cat, Baron, after 20 years. A friend of mine had found him in the woods 20 years ago, and soon after, he was in my little bachelor apartment with me. I had him for almost the entirety of the time I have lived in Nova Scotia. That cat was a huge presence in my life. I want to say it was part of shaping who I was. Those memories came back. I felt sad. We never forget, at least we never want to, but I know we move on, as hard as it could be. Pets significantly impact our lives, and losing one is very difficult.

This post has nothing to do with photography, as you can probably tell. I guess you could say it has to do with life. Its unexpected nature can create the most substantial and meaningful changes. You never know how and what will cause that. Dean found Nala. It changed him. We can all only hope that we find that one person, that one event, or, in Dean’s case, that cat that means so much to us that it creates a path for us we never knew existed.

Continue to travel, get out there, and explore. Your life will be changed in unexpected ways.