Searching for Serendipity

The other day I bumped into a social media post that got me wondering.

If someone is missing a large rooster, he is near serendipity. He ran off into the bushes when he saw me get out off my car to take a picture.

“Near serendipity?”

Is that a state of being? Like almost ecstatic? Approaching nirvana?

According to Merriam Webster, serendipity is defined as:

1. the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

2. also : an instance of this

Hmm…somehow I doubted that was the case for this particular rooster. I started searching “serendipity” as a place name instead. Perhaps the name of a street or a subdivision? It turned out to be neither.

This is Serendipity. Oh, wait. I think I’ve passed that building.

Images from Serendipity social media

Serendipity describes itself as a “quaint, independent boutique offering women's clothes, jewelry, gifts & home decor items.” They are located at 12798 MD-216 in Highland. As I recall they are at the corner of 108 and 216.

I had a hazy recollection of reading they were going to be closing soon? Wait, here it is. Twin sisters, Pam Ehrenfried and Penny Schmit, have operated Serendipity for fifteen years and were looking for a new owner for the business. A recent update:

We have a buyer for our store (yay) but she will not be taking over until January. Penny and I will keep Serendipity running until then. What this means…. We are in Atlanta right now buying for the store. Christmas will be just like we’ve always done and we are buying new merchandise and restocking existing merchandise. Please bear with us during this process, we have a lot of work to do. Our 30% off sale is now over. For now our hours will remain the same and we will keep you updated when they change.

Perhaps our rooster friend was hoping to take advantage of that 30 per cent off sale.

So I solved the mystery of Serendipity but I still have one question. Where did the rooster come from? According to a quick internet search, roosters are not permitted in Howard County.

Residents living in a detached, single-family house may keep up to 8 chickens. No roosters are allowed. The yard must be 10,000 square feet or larger. The coop must be at least 15 feet from all lot lines and 50 feet from all neighbors’ houses. Additional rules apply.

But those are residential rules and Highland is more rural. Maryland certainly has plenty of information on raising poultry on their agricultural website so I’m assuming that this falls under regulations I’m just not familiar with.

On the other hand, perhaps he’s an illegal rooster looking for a disguise so he can travel around the county incognito. Howard County already has a Roving Radish. Why not a Roaming Rooster?

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