December 7, 2011 - "Kim meet Kelly - Kelly meet Kim"; a cosmic introduction

Background – My yoga instructor Kim stopped me after class to ask me how I knew a woman named Angela Westbrook.  Angela is Kim’s neighbor and Kim had seen Angela on my list of Facebook friends and wondered how I knew her.  I told Kim that she had once been my neighbor as well, many years ago.   This should have been the end of the conversation, but for some reason I felt compelled to ask Kim if she also knew another of my old neighbors, Kelly Stanley.  Kim didn't recognize the name or any of the other details I was pouring out about Kelly; she has three boys, they play football, she has blond hair, she lives out in Leesburg… the only thing I didn’t mention about Kelly was Kelly’s husband, Hardy.  Kim continued to insist that she had no idea who I was talking about and I finally let the subject drop, wondering myself why I was so obsessed with connecting Kim to Kelly.  I had this strange feeling that they had to know each other.

S.C.O.U.T. – One week later I received a text from my dear friend Kelly informing me that she had met my yoga instructor Kim, having absolutely no idea that I had been interrogating Kim about this soon-to-be (but currently non-existent) relationship only a week before!  I assumed Angela had given a party in which both Kelly and Kim were invited and texted Kelly a message to that effect.  Kelly replied with “???, what does Angela have to do with this?  I met her at Hardy’s holiday party.  Louis (Kim’s husband) and Hardy work together!  Isn’t that crazy!”

What a Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing!  In addition to this weirdness, Kim has, for all the five years I’ve known her, always reminded me of Kelly and I often think of her when I’m in Kim’s class.  Is it just a cosmic coincidence that they would randomly meet?  Was I having a premonition that they were about to meet?  Did I somehow “attract” this meeting?  These are the questions I ask myself, and then I wait.  I wait and I wonder if the answer will ever be revealed.

My goofy dog Scout just gives me his wise, knowing look.  A look that says “patience, all will be revealed time…”  I scratch him between the eyes as he drops his heavy head into my lap, and I continue to wait, and to contemplate.

Cause and effect, premonition, or nothing but a coincidence?

Background -  On Monday I found myself thinking about my cheap, little fake diamond earrings.  It was just a random passing thought as I took them off before bed.  You see, I eventually lose one from the pair and am forced to go buy another.  I have to come to accept it and is one of the reasons why I like the fake ones, there is no stress or guilt or call to the insurance company when one goes down the air conditioning vent in a hotel room in Paris!  I spun the little glittering jewels around in my hand and thought back to when I had purchased this pair.  It was dawning on me that I had had this particular set for quite some time now; in fact, I soon placed their purchase date as the week following my trip to Paris where I had indeed lost the mate to the former pair.  That was over three years ago!  I chuckled at what a run I was on.  I couldn't believe that I had actually held on to this pair for over three years and proceeded to gently place them in my jewelry box as carefully as if they were the real thing.

S.C.O.U.T. -  On Tuesday I lost one of the earrings.  I was reaching behind me to grab my seat belt and brushed my left ear with my hand.  I felt the backing slip completely off and both it and the earring fell onto my shoulder... at least that's where I think they fell.  The very first thought I had was "you've got to be kidding me!" and the next was "go slow and feel for it, it can't have gone far".  Fifteen minutes later, and with dirty knees from crawling around on the pavement out side my car door, I conceded that the earring was not to be found.  I spent the next few hours wondering about the the question posed in the title of this post and worked to shake the feeling that that little jewel had seemingly just vanished into thin air.

My goofy dog Scout doesn't get the whole "jewelry" thing to begin with and therefore refuses to contemplate with me ;)

September 1, 2010 - Zucchinis from heaven

Background – Stuffed zucchini was one of my mother’s specialties and one of my favorites!  It was best if you could get a hold of an enormous, freshly home-grown zucchini and cook it up right away.  My mother, who was much beloved at her place of work, had a friend who would, every now and again, provide her with just such a zucchini; this friend I speak of not only grew the most enormous zucchinis I have ever seen to this very day, but also had an enormous crush on my adorable mom.  Worked for me!

My mother had been gone for five years that July, when I decided that my heart was strong enough from the loss of her to attempt a home grown zucchini of my own.  I was hoping to resurrect some of the fond, delicious memories from my childhood, while creating a few new ones for my kids.  The problem was that my thumbs are as pink as pink can be, not so much as a tint of green to either one.   I tried growing my zucchini in a standing planter, one similar to the Topsy Turvy Tomato Grower (I know, pathetic) and as you might guess produced nothing larger than a gherkin.  I was disappointed, but not surprised and sadly gave up my quest to duplicate my mother’s culinary masterpiece.

S.C.O.U.T. - During the time that I was fighting my gardening ineptitude and trying to produce something green and edible, I was also fighting another ongoing battle, my neighbors “garden”; which more resembled an unruly jungle with no sense of boundaries, or property lines.  On a regular basis I was forced to cut, rip and even uproot entire plants in order to try and preserve our fenced space.  I was successful in this task except for one stubborn vine; a vine that even when picked up and thrown as far as I could hurl it, would magically appear back in my yard within days, snaking its way over the fence and down into the middle of our lawn.   At first I thought that this creep show vine was mocking me and got a little freaked out when it once again defied my attempts to relocate it to the other side of the fence and appeared in my yard.

I was freaked out until, standing in my kitchen safely behind the closed door (I now wasn’t sure this thing was really just a plant), I saw a large green gourd attached to the thickest part of the vine.  It was an enormous zucchini; one that would have gotten at least a nod of recognition from my mother’s old friend.  My sweet neighbor, a very “Zen” man of Indian descent, was more than happy to give me the vegetable as it had clearly stated where it belonged.  I smiled and thanked him for his generosity, and then my mother for her gift, even as the chill crept down my spine; uncanny, simply uncanny how I had indeed gotten my large, home-grown zucchini.

My goofy dog Scout once again just smiles knowingly.  I can tell he’s thinking of my mother.  You see, she loved him too and therefore he had left this plant alone each time it appeared on our side of the fence, even as he tore through all the surrounding landscape in his game of “Destroy The Yard”; again, simply uncanny.

Reader contribution - Let me give you hand, or if you prefer, take one away

Background – I had a heated discussion with my dear friend Sujatha at the gym this week about our struggling economy.  The subject centered on the unemployment rate and the fear of one’s spouse losing their job.  Sujatha is of the mind that if you think about a subject, and focus on it intently, that you will bring some form of it into being; be it a positive thought and something you desire, or be it a negative thought rooted in fear.  This belief is commonly called the “Law of attraction” and it was the motivation behind Sujatha’s desperate attempts to change the subject so that we wouldn't attract something negative from this very negative conversation!  In general I agree with her, but stubbornly wanted to make my point (I’m Irish and us Irishwoman want to make our point when we want to make it, regardless of the consequences!), therefore I turned my frustration to her and told her that she has no fear of this because her husband is an orthopedic surgeon and that there is no chance he will lose his job.  In other words, she has the luxury of not having to worry about this subject and therefore it’s easy to ignore it.

Sujatha is an extremely kind and sensitive person and therefore my frustration wasn’t lost on her.  In fact, she spent most of the remaining day thinking about what might cause her husband to lose his job because I had been a good Irish woman and made my point! After much consideration, Sujatha came up with just two realistic scenarios in which her husband could lose the ability to perform his job; loss of his eyesight, or loss of the use of his hands.

S.C.O.U.T. - Sujatha’s husband arrived home from work that night and while he was pulling off his wedding ring she noticed that he winced while ever so gently wiggling the ring off his finger.  She asked him what was wrong and he told her that his assistant had dropped a heavy instrument on his hand that day and that it must have bruised because it was still very tender.  Sujatha was dumbfounded as she connected the amount of focus she had poured into the thought of her husband hurting his hands that day to the fact that he was now, for the first time in Sujatha’s memory, standing in front of her nursing just such an injury.  Thankfully it wasn’t serious, just a fractured thumb and blackened nail, no career ending injury, but the uncanny timing of this event gave Sujatha pause none the less. 

You can decide for yourself if you think these events were connected, or nothing more than a coincidence, but for the record Sujatha, I give you my Irishwoman’s promise (for whatever that’s worth), that we will now only speak of positive things when we meet at the gym ;) 

Reader contribution - A son's love for his mother

Background – My friend sent me this story about Anna’s blog, “An Inch of Gray”.  Anna is the woman who lost her son Jack in the floods this past September, and this entry “Jack-ed up phone”, is about how her cell phone will start playing music at random, only since her son died.  This is her blog entry and then the link for the song that randomly started playing on her phone: 

S.C.O.U.T. ~ Anyway, this past Friday morning I walked down to the Bridge for only the second time since the accident. It's just too hard seeing how very, very far the bridge where they found Jack is from where he fell in the water in our neighborhood. I mean really, really far. It's too outrageous seeing a mere trickle of water, even after days of rain, in the shitty little creek bed, yet to know that on that one horrible night it was a raging wall of water that reached over the banks, the bridge, the road.

I took a picture of the cross that friends erected on the roadside. I wanted it for myself, and to share with you on the "Jack's Thrift Store Playlist" post.

So that night, on our way to pack shoe boxes in Jack's memory for Operation Christmas Child, Tim, Margaret and I ducked into a pizza place to get Margaret a slice. It was loud and crowded. I felt trapped. I was angry at all the families having a care-free Friday night.

I went to stand outside on the stoop and heard music coming from my coat pocket. Again? It was one of the very songs that had popped up in the thrift shop weeks earlier.  Which one? Check it out. Believe me, it's worth it.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6l4AnJ5yjo&feature=youtu.be

How could anyone ever possibly argue that this was just a coincidence and not her son trying to comfort her and tell her that “life is such a gift” and that she needs to “live and to love, and to forgive and never give up”.  How could anyone possibly argue that?  Anna will see Jack again.  I’m not sure about a lot of things in this life, but of this I am sure. 

August 30, 2010 - Twenty odd, very odd, dollars

Background – Yesterday I bought a small folding bookcase for $59.99 and, after getting it home, liked it enough to want two more for another area in the house.  I went online because I figured such a common bookcase could certainly be found for less than $50 bucks with all the sites to choose from.  After searching at least ten sites for the exact same bookcase, I came to the conclusion that $59.99 was the lowest price I was going to find and laughed at myself for making such a fuss over a sum of twenty odd dollars or so; but I was stilled bummed about my failure to hit the “goal price”.  I sucked it up and headed back to the store to purchase two more bookcases and relinquish my twenty odd dollars.

S.C.O.U.T. – I had gotten my bookcase at the back of the store, but there were none left in that spot.  The clerk told me that they had a few more up front and I headed off to find them.  The bookcases I located in the front window of the store were marked with a sign that read “$49.99” and I immediately jumped for joy at my good luck!  I would indeed get my bookcase for the price I had been so determined to find. 

As I filled the cashier in on my story and my apparent “good luck”, she suddenly lifted her head from her clicking and her clacking and informed me that the price wasn’t coming up in the register.  These bookcases were $59.99.  We called the manager over and she quickly figured out the problem.  The $49.99 sale on these bookcases had ended yesterday and the sale sign hadn’t been taken down!  She gave me the sale price and destroyed the sign. What uncanny timing!!

Another case of “ask and ye shall receive”?  I don’t know…I’ve asked for a lot of things that I haven’t gotten (yet); although I have a sneaking suspicion that God, the universe and “the powers that be” know me better than I know myself and that I get the things I’m supposed to get, the things that really feed my inner happiness.  Justification?  Reaching?  Maybe.   Maybe these things really are just coincidences, the problem is that when it happens that little tingle running down your spine makes it feel anything but coincidental.  My goofy dog Scout says he knows me better than I know myself and that the “real me” really wants to give him that big bag of “Bacon Bits” in the fridge.  Sigh, typical.

Reader contribution - Faster than a speeding lacrosse ball (named Scout)

Background – My son had spent the day at a physically grueling lacrosse tournament and was finally lying in bed trying to relax into sleep while reviewing the day’s events.  He was headed off to yet another tournament the next day and found himself thinking about ways to improve his performance and “kick up his game” so to speak.  As his mind drifted, he found himself wondering just how fast his reaction time could be.  Just how fast could he catch and then shoot the ball?  What are his physical limits?  He ran through a number of scenarios that would test, and answer, that very question before settling on one particular set of circumstances.  He drifted off to sleep wondering whether, in infinitesimal chance that this particular play should occur, he would be able to react quickly enough to catch and then shoot the ball, thereby turning it into a goal.   It was only a dream however, because in his seven years of playing lacrosse he had never seen it happen.

S.C.O.U.T. – It was the second game of the tournament and my son was sliding back and forth around the goal, shouting to his teammates that he was “OPEN”!!  The ball came hurling his way and he easily scooped it out of mid-air, wound back his arm and shot it at the square orange framed net.  He aimed slightly to the left in order to avoid the swiveling goalie, who was determined to thwart his success, and ended up hitting the goal pipe with a loud claangg.  The strange part, however, was that the ball bounced off the pipe which sent it hurling straight back at my son.  In one smooth motion, his reaction time was lightning fast as he caught the ball, shifted his weight forward and shot, this time hitting his mark and scoring the goal.  He couldn’t wait to tell me after the game how he had been day dreaming of that exact scenario only the night before; wondering if he would be fast enough in the split second that the ball bounced off the pole to catch it and score a goal.  It was as if he had to tell someone about this strange case of uncanny timing because he was in awe of the fact that his daydream had come to full fruition the very next day.

Once again I find myself wondering if it was just a coincidence, or perhaps a premonition, or rather some mind/body/universe connection.  My goofy dog Scout simply nods his head knowingly and nuzzles my sons hand in a furry congratulation for a game well played.  One of these days he’s going to give up some of those cosmic secrets he’s guarding, so help me God!

August 20, 2010 - A lesson you won't soon forget

Background – My youngest son had the same Social Studies teacher two years following my older son.  This teacher told both of my boys this story, which seems to show that it made a lasting impression on him.

The teacher was hanging around the house on a day with very little going on when the doorbell rang.  He answered the door and found a young Mormon on his doorstep poised to deliver “the message”.  Normally he would have said “no thank you” and politely closed the door, but this particular day was so slow that he uncharacteristically decided to listen to what the kid had to say for a short while.  He ended up allowing this young man to cover quite a bit of information about the Mormon Church, including its history, its message and many of its current practices.  After a much longer time than he had planned, the conversation came to an end and he thanked the young missionary for the interesting lesson and told him that he would think about some of the things they had talked about.

S.C.O.U.T. - The following week, the teacher, who was a student at the time, went to his own Social Studies class and was surprised to find that a large part of the exam he had come to take was, in fact, on the Mormon Church.  During his studies, he hadn't anticipated this and therefore would have failed the test completely if not for visit from that young Mormon.  As it was, he passed the test with flying colors! On each occasion that he told this story to one of my kids, they said they could see how he was still amazed at the uncanny timing of the event.  Once again trying to impress upon this current class how “strange” it was that he had, on a whim, done something so out of character only to have that very thing play so crucially into the following weeks events.  It was however eighth grade, which is an age group nearly impossible to impress, therefore I feel certain that the next class will also be hearing about this bizarre turn of events and maybe they’ll see the “strange case of uncanny timing” in his story! 

My goofy dog Scout just wants to know if those "Mormon guys" bring treats with them to the door?  If so, he could find it within himself to forget his "vicious dog" routine and let them in the house.  Typical.

August 25, 2010 - Lightly popped love, courtesy of the universe

Background – On a whim, I bought my hubbie some “lite” kettle corn at Trader Joe’s today (good stuff…110cal/pkg, 3g fiber and only 4g sugar!).  I never buy him snack food.  I mean never, ever, ever; and I don’t have a good explanation as to why I picked up this bag of “lite” kettle corn and dropped it in my basket on this particular day.  The hubbie will back me up on this one, and add that the low fat triscuits and whole wheat pretzels I’ve tried in the past don’t count as “snack food”, neither of which he ate, or appreciated.

S.C.O.U.T. – When he got home from work, I proudly presented him with my impromptu gift.  He took one look at the bag and said “Oh, you saw that report on “The Today Show” this morning”. 

I thought for a moment and then shook my head “no”. 

Certain that I must have seen the report (as this is the only possible explanation for why I had bought him Kettle Corn to snack on) he elaborated.  “You know, the report where the lady said that lite, popped snacks are best” he said while nodding his head and waving his arm in an attempt to help me remember. 

I still had to say “No, I didn’t see that report”. 

Perplexed now, he said more to himself “that’s weird because after I watched the report I thought “I think I’ll get me some of those lite, popped snacks”( I could almost see his wheels turning “there’s no way she can say “no” to “lightly popped snack food”) .  Humph, “I guess you get what you ask for!” he announced triumphantly after snatching the bag from me and heading for the family room.  What a strange case of uncanny timing!

For the record, “lightly popped kettle corn” is a poor substitute for the real thing, as the now stale, only half eaten bag in the pantry will testify.  My goofy dog Scout is annoyed that God, the universe and the “powers that be” haven’t delivered the snack food that he’s been asking for, including snausages and pigs ears (blekkhh).  Perhaps I’ll give him the rest of Dads uneaten, infinitely healthy, “treat”… he is not amused, and not interested.

August 20, 2010 - What a waste... Yuuukkkk!!!

Background – Wednesday of this week I watched a previously recorded episode of the show called “Monsters Inside Me” (not a show for the faint of heart).  This episode chronicled the story of a man who, after a traumatic run-in with a swarm of angry bees (no, that’s not the punch line!), developed seasonal allergies so intense that he began to get desperate.  His aunt told him about a program she had watched on TV where doctors were using worms to treat all sorts of autoimmune disorders, and specifically using hook worms to treat allergies.  Upon looking into the matter further, the man became convinced that it could work.  He promptly booked a trip to a small African village that had a very rudimentary sewage system in order to be able to walk around barefoot in the human waste (I warned you – Yuukkk!!).  Just as planned, he was able to infect himself with hook worms, and now claims that his allergies are infinitely better to this very day, all the while managing the health challenges that his new “intestinal residents” present, uugghh.

As you might expect, I couldn’t shake the weird, yukiness of this story and walked around grossing myself out with it for the next two days.

S.C.O.U.T. – Two nights later, I hop into bed and pick up my Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader to catch up on a little fascinating, random trivia.  Popping open the book to the last section, which I read three weeks ago, the very first title in the lineup, is… “The Worms Crawl In”.  My first thought was YGTBKM (you’ve got to be kidding me) as I eagerly continued on to confirm my suspicions; not only did this topic top my grossest subject list, but it was also about to become a S.C.O.U.T.  This section was indeed about using parasites to treat everything from arthritis to psychiatric disorders.  The chills ran up and down my arms as I contemplated the strange appearance of this article.  I had never, ever heard of this bizarre treatment, and yet two completely unrelated sources had presented me with this concept within a two day period; simply uncanny.  I wonder if there’s a worm to cure a chronic case of the “S.C.O.U.T.s”?

Have you ever heard of this bizarre treatment?  Have you ever heard of this bizarre treatment twice in two days? No, I thought not.  My goofy dog Scout is too yukked out to discuss; he did however muster enough strength to request seconds on his heart worm medication.  

"Well, la di fricken da", a tribute to Chris Farley from God and the universe

Background – My friend Adrianne and I were having a chat in the fluffy, comfy chairs in the front lobby of Golds Gym; which is way, way better than having a chat on the medieval torture device they call the “Elliptical”.  We got talking about one of our favorite comedians, Chris Farley and how funny he was and how tragic his life ended.  We ran through a couple of our favorite movies and then movie lines, giggling all the while at the silliness that was Chris Farley.  The conversation ended with us agreeing he was one of the greats, and we moved on to another topic, any topic, to justify avoiding the annoyed and scolding Elliptical that was calling my name.

S.C.O.U.T. - Not five minutes later a man walked passed us wearing a t-shirt that read “Your Motivational Speaker” and under the caption was a picture of none other than… Chris Farley!!  The t-shirt was a reference to his famous Saturday Night Live skit where he was hired to lecture teenagers on the pitfalls of living in a van down by the river!!!  Adrianne and I were stunned.

Here are the questions I would ask the doubters… “When was the last time you had a conversation about Chris Farley?”, “When was the last time you saw a picture of Chris Farley on a t-shirt, seeing as he died in 1997?”, and finally “When was the last time those two events occurred randomly within minutes of each other?!!” 

My goofy dog Scout can see your still doubting.  That’s alright, I’ll keep trying.  Tune in next week….you fricken doubters ;)

P.S. – As I hit the final key for this entry, I hear a sound floating in from the family room that I instantly recognize from watching the movie “Tommy Boy” umpteen million times… its Chris Farley speaking into his office fan in his deepest voice “Luuuke, I am your faaather”!!!  “The Today Show" is doing a spot on classic movies and this is the clip they choose to play at this very moment?  Coincidence?  COME ON, YGTBKM!!!  I have never, not once, heard that scene played unless I was watching the movie!  Brrrrrr, does anyone feel the chill that just ran down my spine?

Reader contribution - "Seeing" is believing, but still doesn't answer the question WTF?

Background - Sujatha and her little angel Lila had seen a young baby wearing eyeglasses at lunch.  Afterwards, on the way to the library to pick up Lila’s brother, there was plenty of time for the barrage of questions about eyeglasses and then eyes in general from the inquisitive Lila to her struggling to be the “knower of all things” mother. 

“Can babies have bad eyesight?”, “yes” (easy one).

“How do they know because they can’t talk?”, “the doctors have tests that tell you” (still not too challenging).

“What do babies whose parents can’t afford eyeglasses do?”, “Hmmm?  I guess there are charities that help them out” (starting to wing it).

“Can you donate your glasses?”, “I’m sure you can” (not really sure about that, but must try and answer or the “knower of all things” thing is in jeopardy).

“How do you do that?  Remember Mom, I have a bunch of old glasses and I want to donate them”, “I’m sure there are like “boxes” set up around, in places, or maybe at the eye doctor, or at the mall or something” (now just lying to save status, have absolutely no idea if you even CAN donate old eyeglasses and even less of an idea WHERE you would perform such a task). 

Thankfully Sujatha arrived at the library just in time to end the downward spiral of her answers about “eyeglass donation” and save her battered, but still intact “knower of all things “status.

S.C.O.U.T. – They entered the library and Lila peeled off to the left in order to get a drink from the water fountain.  Sujatha headed off to find her son but was stopped short by Lila’s excited pleas, “MOM!  MOM!  LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!”  She was so insistent that Sujatha had no choice but to return to the water fountain where she found Lila jumping up and down and pointing to the box next to the fountain.  The box which read in big, easy to see letters “EYEGLASS DONATIONS”!! 

f you can’t SEE the strange timing in this story, I’m finished.  My goofy dog Scout says he SEES much more than that, but he’s not telling.  I remind him of the Loudoun County Animal Shelter where you can take unwanted animals, although by his expression there’s no doubt that SEES I’m just bluffing.

August 16, 2010 - A starving cat, a grinning cat and a good jolt of electricity

Background – Yesterday, my husband and I took a rare trip to rural Loudoun County to run a starving, stray cat out to the animal shelter in order to get the poor thing some much needed help.  On our drive back home, we see the mammoth poles for the enormous power lines that are being run from one side of the county to the other.  The poles run steadily down the left side of Rt7 and then abruptly stop.  When you look to the right, they seem to resume their march down Rt7 on the other side.  I looked from one side of the road to the other and commented to my husband “Are they really going to run those huge power lines across a road this size?  I can’t believe it, but that’s what it looks like they’re going to do!”  He responded that he had no idea what they were doing with those power lines as he hadn’t heard anything about this project.

S.C.O.U.T. – We arrived home, flipped on the TV and stopped to watch a moment of local news.  Tucked into the morning’s top stories was a brief update on the power line work in Leesburg, and how they are preparing to run the enormous lines across the major Rt7 – showing a picture of the exact spot we had just passed by!  I was stunned, and ridiculously glanced over my shoulder in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the one responsible for directing this charade we call reality, as I was sure I would catch them standing directly behind me, grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat!! 

Neither my husband nor I, who are both avid local news people, had ever seen a single report on the construction of these power lines… until this morning.  I chuckled to myself as the timing of the story sunk in and that old familiar tingle crept down my spine.  What a strange case of uncanny timing.  It’s as if there is a constant conversation going on around me in which my question was quickly and easily answered as part of this ongoing cosmic chatter.

My goofy dog Scout is very quiet this morning as he contemplates the idea that there is a county shelter where you can take animals that are sick, starving and wandering the neighborhood.  He finds himself wondering if they also take animals that mock their owners and misbehave.  For once, I have no comment for him, and just allow him to wonder ;)

Reader Contribution - "It was all about the Continental one-pass mile" - a 9/11 tribute to life, death and all the questions in between

My friend and neighbor Maureen MCrae, sent me this about her life long friends Theresa and ken.  This is the story in Theresa's words -

In September, 2001, my husband worked for Morgan Stanley in Tower 2 on the 64th floor. Being an ex-fireman, he was the Fire Warden for his floor at the time and eager to help in an emergency. On September 11, 2001, he was not at work that day, as he flew out late in the evening on September 10th on a flight that left from Newark and was heading to San Francisco. He was not supposed to be on this flight, as he made a last minute change. Fortunately, he arrived safely and stayed at a hotel – which was across the street from a federal building that was under evacuation due to bomb threats. Airlines were shut down, so he tried to take a train home… but the train shut down because there were bomb threats… After he and three co-workers drove across country with a very sick pregnant woman and returned home, he pulled out the paperwork from his original flight…

 It read, “9/11/01, United Flight 93, Departs 8:00 a.m., Newark to San Francisco."   I asked him, “What made you change that United flight?” He answered, “It was all about the Continental One-Pass mile”

Reader contribution - HP wants credit where credit is due

Background - My husband told me that he was watching the movie “Point Break” with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves when he took noticed of the lab equipment they were using to study evidence from the bank robberies.  He looked closely at the machines they were supposedly using and wondered if it was all just fake, junky movie props.  It just looked too “high tech” to be real and he decided it was just that, junky movie props.  It was a random, insignificant passing moment that he didn’t think much about; he was only catching quick clips of the movie anyway because of running back and forth from the office to the kid’s rooms in order to get them to sleep.

S.C.O.U.T. – With the kids firmly asleep, he made his final trip into the office and plopped down in his comfy recliner to find the movie credits zipping up the screen in the usual “none of this information matters, but we’re required to include it” speed.  He accepted that he had missed most of the movie and then casually focused on the words zipping by while waiting for the next movie to begin.  He caught one credit and one credit only in the blur of words zipping up the screen…. “Lab equipment made by Hewlett Packard”.  It was strange to him because he wasn’t really reading the credits and yet his eyes had settled on the only one that seemed to chime in on his thought from only moments ago.  He chuckled to himself as he shook off the “question asked, question answered” tingle that was creeping down his spine and conceded that the lab equipment had, in fact, been real.  Hewlett Packard doesn’t make junky movie props!

August 3, 2010 - "A Wrinkle In Time" indeed

Background – I took my youngest to the Newseum today to hang out his aunts and cousins.  We were perusing the book store and he found a section which had copies of books that have been banned throughout history.  He brought me a copy of the book “A Wrinkle In Time” and told me he had read it in 5^th grade and that he had loved it.  I was embarrassed because I had never read, or even heard of, this book.  I was familiar with or had even read all of the other books in the “banned book” section and was frustrated that I didn’t know this one.  I took a minute to puzzle about this and then moved on.

S.C.O.U.T. - Cooking dinner that evening while listening to Teen Jeopardy, I moved out into the family room because I couldn’t hear the questions.  I had already missed the previous question, but entered the room in time to hear the answer, and only the answer... “A Wrinkle In Time”!  The answer was the very book I had been brooding about only hours before.  I had never even heard of this book and here it was twice in one day, not to mention the timing of the moment was such that all I heard was the title of this book.  I was stunned as I contemplated whether the Universe was mocking me; if it was just an echo of my thoughts; or, as always, nothing more than just a coincidence.  On its face, it seems to have no more meaning than some kind of echo of my earlier thought.  Although if you buy into the idea that it is indeed an echo of my thoughts, the implications are once again staggering; and it also confirms there is a lot more going on around us than science has explained thus far!  If you don’t “buy in” or see these things in your own life, it’s just another silly coincidence.

My goofy dog Scout votes for the idea that the Universe is mocking me.  That doesn’t surprise me one bit.

August 2, 2010 - Blood is thicker than Guinness (but only slightly!)

Background - I’ve been thinking a lot about my four siblings the last two days, two older sisters and a younger sister and brother (I’m the stereotypical “middle” child).  I have a vision of us laughing it up in a bar in Ireland, clinking our cold, foamy glasses of Guinness together as we enjoy a loud, crass walk down memory lane!  We don’t spend nearly enough time together.

S.C.O.U.T. - Day two of my sibling obsession and I’m finishing up some shopping at Costco when my phone rings; it’s my brother John!  Not so weird that he would call so I didn’t think much of it, and was happy to get a moment to catch up.  Heading out of Costco with my cart, I come upon my little sister Alison in the food court having lunch with her husband and two boys!  I laugh it off and take a moment to catch up as the tingle begins to creep down my spine; I have only run into her once here in 12 long years.  In addition, she tells me how she had a weird feeling when they walked in that she was going to see me here today; tingle picking up in intensity!  We start talking about my oldest sister, Jennifer, when… my phone rings.  It’s my oldest sister Jennifer just calling to say hi!  Now I feel like I’ve been jolted with a good dose of electricity!  Lastly, my little sister Alison tells me they are meeting my last sister, Deirdre, at the Newseum the next day and that I should come.   Needless to say, I went to complete my sibling reunions, all the while thanking God, the “powers that be” and the universe for sending each of my siblings across my path.  How uncanny that I should see or talk to each and every one of them within hours of longing for a reunion. 

My goofy dog Scout doesn’t think it’s weird at all and just wants to know if he can come to Ireland with us.  Fat chance.

July 28, 2010 - The universe uses bike messengers? Who knew?!!

Background - It was Sunday night, the first night of our annual one week beach vacation, and I had an awesome dream.   In the dream I was in one of my favorite movies with one of my favorite actors!  I woke up almost laughing at how much fun, and how bizarre, the dream had been.  The movie I dreamed of was “The Land of the Lost”, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember the actor’s name.  It was driving me nuts because he’s one of my favorite actors and it was ridiculous that I couldn’t remember his name.  I tried over the next two days to remember, without success, as my frustration built; there never seemed to be anyone around to ask and help me figure out his name when the subject popped into my head.  So, I just continued to shake off the frustration generated by this memory lapse and trusted that it would come to me.

S.C.O.U.T. - On the third day, my husband and I were taking our morning walk down the coastal highway and a couple approached us from the opposite direction on bikes.  By the time we moved aside to let them pass I could hear that they were talking to each other but not WHAT they were saying.  The moment they rode past us, the man turns to woman and yells “Will Ferrell”!  It was the ONLY part of the conversation I was able to hear.  My first thought was “Ahhh!  That’s his name”, and the second was YGTBKM (you’ve got to be kidding me)!!! 

I was left to ponder the strange way in which the answer to my burning question had appeared.

My goofy dog Scout was in Turkish prison (i.e. the kennel) and therefore has no knowledge of this strange coincidence.  Due to the fact that I would be telling him where we were while he was locked up, I think I’ll just keep this one to myself.

Reader contribution - The ultimate "biggest believer" sends the welcome wagon

Background – Tori wrote:  Eleven years ago I was preparing to move back to Virginia to the town I grew up in, Manassas.  I was a little nervous about leaving my mom and my home to go and try something new with my dad, but owning a coffee shop sounded awesome since I was a total “Friends” geek!!  A co-worker of mine sensed my apprehension and offered up a potential friend for support when I arrived.  She told me about her late husband’s sister who lives in the same town and owns a photography studio.   Giving me the woman’s contact info, she told me that this woman is a little older than me but would be a terrific person to help me get started on my new life and urged me to look her up when I got settled.

A few days after we settled in and started making the coffee shop our own, an older, beautiful lady with a warm smile and a cheerful personality came into the shop and struck up a conversation, which centered around the fact that I was the youngest business owner in town!

S.C.O.U.T.  -  After some pleasant banter, she began to tell me the story of how her brother was always her biggest believer and how his life had been cut short, leaving behind a wife and two boys…. It then began to dawn on me that I had heard this story before, and took me no time to determine that this is the woman my co-worker had urged me to find when I got here.  We were both stunned by the fact that she had unknowingly “found” me before I could even give her a call, as she had absolutely no idea that I had worked with her deceased brother’s wife.  We are still dear friends, talk to each other nearly every day, and often laugh about the uncanny timing of our first meeting!  I don’t know if this qualifies as a S.C.O.U.T., but I thought I would share.

Thanks for sharing Tori.  The only qualification for a S.C.O.U.T. is that it’s a “Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing”.  The tingle running down my spine says “absolutely”!! I could go through my regular list of observations, but let’s just say that I have no doubt that this inspiring “human connection” was no accident.  My goofy dog Scout just wants to know if your coffee shop served dog treats, he hears that’s a “thing” now.  Sigh.

Read contribution - The empty grave and the waiting wife

Background – Maureen (our honorary contributing editor!!!) wrote:  Scott’s mom died four years ago this Saturday and it reminded me of a S.C.O.U.T. that occurred at her funeral.  We were at the cemetery and the burial service had ended so we were wandering around looking at headstones.  There are many people from my hometown buried there so it was interesting to see familiar names.  I came across a pair of gravestones with the names Reverend Schultheis and his wife Mary Schultheis.  At first I was taken aback as I didn’t know that Reverend Shultheis had passed.  Then I noticed that the dates under his name were not complete.  His wife had her birth year and death year, but the Reverend’s headstone only had a birth year.  I realized that this was just his plan to be buried next to his wife, but that he must not have passed away yet.

S.C.O.U.T. - A few days later I was reading our local hometown paper and, as always, I browse the obituaries to see if we lost anyone we knew, or their parents (it’s a small town thing!).  In the paper Reverend Shultheis was listed in the obituaries…. He had died the day we buried Scott’s Mom, and the day I was at the cemetery looking at his grave!  The only personal connection I have with him is that I went to school with his kids, but this was spooky to say the least!

Funeral S.C.O.U.T.s.... they always give me the chills.

Reader Contribution - Reaching deep and finding the "will"

Background - Kelly wrote: OMG!!  That is so funny!  I absolutely love, love, love hearing these “Strange Cases Of Uncanny Timing”.  I’ve actually been having one myself lately.  It’s sort of a morbid topic but now it’s just nagging at me.  Listen to this…

On my way down to the beach with the kids, I was all alone in the front of the car.  The boys were in the back seats and were, as usual, all “plugged-in” so the car was nice and quiet.  It gave my mind a chance to wander and I quickly became lost in my thoughts.   I was thinking, sadly enough, about dying because of a horrible accident we had just passed on the highway.  I started thinking about the fact that my husband and I hadn’t done our wills yet and that, if tragedy struck, it would be an extra burden, in addition to the grief my parents would face, as they tried to put things together for my kids.  The thought eventually faded away as we arrived in Williamsburg, got unpacked for our visit and headed into the kitchen for dinner. 

S.C.O.U.T.  -  Shortly into the normal dinner conversation, my dad takes a detour and ironically brings up the subject regarding the necessity of getting a will done for me and my husband in case tragedy strikes.  It was totally out of the blue, and stopped me dead in my tracks as he had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that I had been thinking about it only three hours earlier!  It was weird!!

We headed down to the beach house the next day and then, as if I was getting a sign from above, I open the paper that morning and find that they have dedicated an entire section to making a will and estate planning!!!  Finally, as if to make this EVEN weirder, I hit the beach that afternoon and not one, but TWO of the magazines I was reading had articles on making a will, selecting an executor, guardians, living wills, etc.  It sent chills up and down my spine!!  Needless to say, as soon as I get home I will be finding a lawyer to get this done!

We agree with you Kelly… WEIRD!!  And for anyone who doubts it, go to the store and count the number of articles you find while flipping through the magazines and newspapers that discuss appointing an executor and constructing a will.  I bet you can’t find more than one or two.  Was Kelly attracting these pieces of information, including somehow cosmically tapping her dad to broach the subject?  Or, was she having some sort of mini-premonition that these things were going to be crossing her path and subconsciously knew it was going to really bug her that she hadn’t written a will yet?  OR, as always, were they nothing more than just a chilling coincidence?  Personally, it makes me think there’s a lot going on around us that we can’t see with our eyes.

July 26, 2010 - It's a "Dirty Job", but someone's got to do it

Background – I was walking with two friends at the beach and began to tell them the story of another friend’s father who had bought a house right on the beach.  He sold the structure and had a company come pick it up and move it two blocks away; he just wanted the beach front property and planned on building his own house.   It had been a big story at the time and the news even came to watch them load up the old house, and without breaking so much as a floor board, move it around the corner!  The other moms and I wondered at how in the world they were able to do that.  None of us had the slightest idea and therefore the conversation was a short one.   I continued to wonder though, how they could do that without the house breaking completely apart.

S.C.O.U.T. - 4:00 that afternoon the kids came in from the beach and we all plopped down in front of the TV to cool off before dinner.  The first show to come on was “Dirty Jobs” starring Mike Rowe.  I felt that old familiar tingle creep down my spine as they announced that the second segment of the show would profile a company whose specialty is… moving entire houses from one place to another, without breaking so much as a floor board!!   It took about 15 minutes for the show to answer all the question’s I’d had that morning about the subject.  Simply uncanny, both how you can move an entire house without breaking a single floor board, and the fact that I had asked the question and gotten my answer within hours.

My goofy dog Scout is super mad at me.   He could care less about how to move an entire house because he now realizes that we were at the beach the entire time he was in the kennel.  He finds that completely unacceptable and refuses to forgive us for not taking him along.

July 22, 2010 - Mystery editor revealed

Background - I had coffee with my friend this morning and was telling her about the college student who is reading a piece of my writing and helping me edit it.  I know this girl’s mother but have never met the girl herself.  She is doing an internship for a publisher in New York and I just e-mailed her the piece of writing that she agreed to help me with.  I told my friend that it was a little weird not knowing what she looks like when she is reading something so very personal to me.

S.C.O.U.T. - After coffee I crossed the parking lot and headed up towards the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner.  I was just about to cross the street when a car crossed the road in front of me and I noticed that it was the mother of the girl reading my writing.  Sitting next to her was a young girl who I assumed to be one of her daughters.  I rushed home and e-mailed the girl immediately to see if it had been her in the car with her mother.  She wrote back that she was home for the weekend and it had, in fact, been her!  I was stunned to find that I now knew what she looks like, and only moments after telling my friend that I felt a little weird about that very thing.  The timing of this S.C.O.U.T. shook me to the core.  I had no idea she was home for the weekend and thinking about the narrow window of time required for me to see her driving by was mind boggling.  Almost anything could have happened to make me miss that split second sighting.  It still gives me a tingle to this day.

My goofy dog Scout is unimpressed with my boggling and just wants to know what new and delicious treat I bought him at the store.  Typical. 

What's in a name?

Background – I had been journaling and collecting S.C.O.U.T.’s (strange cases of uncanny timing) for over nine months when I decided I needed a few synonyms for the word “coincidence”.  I was using the word so much that at times my writing was sounding redundant and choppy.  I looked up “coincidence” on Thesaurus.com and read the word bank for synonyms.  One of the synonyms was “circumstance”, and when you scrolled down farther, the word “circumstance” had its own synonym suggestions.  This is the entry I saw:

Main Entry:  circumstance 

Part of Speech:  noun 

Definition:  situation, condition 

Synonyms:  * Moira, accident, action, adjunct, affair, article, case, cause, * coincidence, concern, contingency, crisis, destiny, detail, doom, element, episode, event, exigency, fact, factor, fate, feature, fortuity, go, happening, happenstance, incident, intervention, item, juncture, kismet…etc., etc.

*The first synonym is “Moira” and the ninth synonym is “coincidence”.

S.C.O.U.T.  -  My middle name is Moira.  It didn’t escape me that the words “destiny”, “fate” and “kismet” (the word of Turkish origin for fate or destiny) were also in this word bank.  I’m not exaggerating when I say you could have blown me over with a feather.  Truth be told, this freaked me out a little.  I have the distinct feeling that I’m being walked down a garden path and have no choice but to follow.

July 19, 2010 - Mixed signals

Background - I had to avoid Rte. 7 because the traffic was at a complete stand-still.  I decided to take a detour that would take me far off my intended path and quickly got annoyed at myself at the length I would have now have to travel.  Perhaps it would have just been better to just sit in the traffic for a few minutes.  I had already started down the path of this detour and decided to soothe my irritated nerves by telling myself that I had subconsciously chosen this way in order to avoid a car accident.  Had I gone the other way perhaps that would have been the result. 

S.C.O.U.T. – I had barely finished with this little mind trick to justify my actions, when a car pulled erratically out into the intersection I was about to pass through and came to a stop right in front of me.  I could see the driver and quickly realized he wasn’t paying any attention to the road, he was talking with the passenger sitting next to him.  I instinctively slammed on the brakes and laid about five feet of tire rubber before coming to a stop, only inches from the side of this man’s car.   It was truly the closest I have come to having a serious car accident in all my thirty years of driving.

This incident left me wondering how I could have been thinking about avoiding a serious car accident and then seconds later nearly having my very first one in all my years of driving.  Did I attract the near car accident by just thinking about “car accident”, or did I perhaps avoid it because I was focused on “avoiding a car accident”?  Or as usual, there’s always the possibility that this was just a cosmic coincidence and has no meaning whatsoever.  

My goofy dog Scout is still a bit shaken by this near miss and therefore tells me to just keep my eyes on the road, and to STOP thinking about car accidents altogether.

Reader contribution - Brother, can you spare a dime?

Background – My son Jake has been more than a little skeptical about this phenomenon and refused to let me in on any of the strange coincidences happening to him that may be called a S.C.O.U.T…… until today!

Jake walked into one of his classes and another student was pointing to a dime on the floor.  There was a quick exchange about who would snatch up the little gift.  Jake took one look at the dime and remarked “It’s just a dime.  A dime won’t buy you anything in this world.  I don’t want it, you can have it”.  The girls sitting behind him happily accepted the gift and snickered at Jake “Now I’m a dime richer than you Jake!”  It was a brief, light hearted exchange that Jake didn’t think another thing about until that afternoon.

S.C.O.U.T.   -  In P.E. that afternoon another friend of Jake’s was drinking a Sobe flavored water and remarked to Jake how delicious it was and how Jake HAD to try one.  Jake laughed, agreed and then reminded the kid that he owed him a few dollars and it was time to pay up so he could go get that Sobe water!  The kid dug in his pocket and dropped a dollar bill and all the change he had into Jake’s hand as payment. 

Jake arrived at the soda machine, checked the price of the Sobe water and then looked into his hand to see how much money his friend had given him.  Sitting under the $1 bill, Jake had a dime and a nickel.  The price of the Sobe water was $1.25.  Jake felt the tingle creep down his spine as he was now finding out just how valuable a dime can be.  He counted over 25 students before he could find one that would lend him a dime so he could get his Sobe water; grinning and shaking his head all the while about the undeniable S.C.O.U.T. that he would now finally have to share with his mother!!

My goofy dog Scout loves his Jake and is growling at me to leave him alone.  Sorry buddy, no can do!!!

Reader contribution - The grim reaper gives Sujatha a nod

Background - Sujatha had just read my blog entry “The wonderful Mr. Drozd” and found herself thinking about funeral S.C.O.U.T.s and how truly strange they can be.  She headed off to coffee with an old friend as she rolled these thoughts around in her head.  At coffee, Sujatha’s friend brings up a man that they both know.  He is a close friend of hers and a longtime acquaintance of Sujatha’s.  They proceed to have a short conversation about this man and about a funny comment he made that had tickled her friend pink!  It was a normal run of the mill conversation and Sujatha didn’t think much about it… until the next morning.

S.C.O.U.T.  – The next morning Sujatha receives an unexpected text from her coffee companion.  It was a stunned announcement that the man they had been so casually talking about only yesterday (the first time they had spoken of him in a great while) had passed away last night.  Sujatha immediately connected her thoughts from the previous day about the strange nature of funeral S.C.O.U.T.s to the fact that she experienced one that very same day… a coincidence inside a coincidence so to speak!  Sujatha and I have since decided that this was no coincidence, and in that case, the implications are staggering.

My goofy dog Scout grudgingly admits that funeral S.C.O.U.T.s are the strangest.  He is also fully aware of the implications and says that someday he’ll let me in on the cosmic truth about death, but right now he needs to take his nap.  Sigh.

Reader Contribution - "Grey Eyes" are following me

Background - Maureen wrote, on Monday Gwyneth and I were riding in the car talking about our eye color (we have the same color).   Sometimes they are blue and sometimes they are green, it just depends on what we are wearing.  I went on to tell her about a teacher I had in the 7^th grade, “Mr. D”, who used to call me “Grey Eyes”.  I hadn’t thought about him in 32 years and told Gwyneth that he was a young (probably about 24 years old and just out of college) and fun teacher that all the girls loved!  It was a short, but sweet, walk down memory lane and then Gwyneth and I moved on to another subject.

S.C.O.U.T. - The NEXT day I get a friend request from “Mr. D” on Facebook!!!

Maureen goes on to say WTF (which is another form of YGTBKM – You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me)!!!  I whole heartedly agree Maureen, WTF!!!!  We are all assuming that old “Grey Eyes” accepted the friend request and took advantage of the invite from God and the universe to catch up with “Mr. D”!  Absolutely uncanny.

July 6, 2010 - Jeopardy is a wiz(ard)

Background - Yesterday I found myself wondering how old Harry Potter was when the series of books that is based on him begins.  I just couldn’t remember (even having read every single book) and for some strange reason this little tid-bit of random, useless information had become a burning question that was driving me crazy!  I was too busy to sit down and look it up, so I eventually just let it go while telling myself that it really wasn’t that big of a deal and that I could pull my copy of “The Sorcerer’s Stone” out at some point and figure it out. 

S.C.O.U.T. - Tonight on Jeopardy (kids week), one of the answers for the contestants was…

“This character was 11 years old when he received

his acceptance letter to wizarding school”

Uncanny!  So now I know; how random, and seemingly meaningless.  Although, if you record how often this phenomenon happens (as I do) then there is no way to call it a mere coincidence; suddenly the implications become staggering and makes me wonder if the mere fact that this happens is indeed the meaning.

My goofy dog Scout says “who cares”.  When is the universe going to answer something important like “how do we achieve world peace? “Or “is it possible to conquer world hunger for good? “Or “what are Fridays winning lottery numbers? “; patience my furry friend.