A Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing: May 17, 2010

What does it mean?

You've been thinking about somone. Somone you haven't heard from in weeks, months or even years, and within a short period of time you receive some kind of communication from them. Twice I received letters from a woman I had worked with years before within a day of thinking about her for the first time in a long period of time. The second instance I even stopped in front of the mailbox and had the idea that there was going to be a letter from her because it had already happened once and sure enough, there was a letter in the box. My question is obvious. What is this phenomenon that boils down to a "Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing"?

Is it God? Is it the Universe? Entanglement? Are our brains Quantum computers? Is it the "Law of Attraction"?, or is it all nothing more than a coincidence? Carl Jung called it synchronicity and it happens all the time. Does it happen to you? It happens to me and I find myself wondering "What does it mean?". Decide for yourself as you follow my diary of another "Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing", also known as a S.C.O.U.T!

Monday, January 17, 2011

May 17, 2010 - Blown away!

Background - The morning of May 17th I watched an episode of the riveting (and sad) show “Intervention” about people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol (while folding laundry of course - I had eaten all the bon-bons so what else was I suppose to do?) This episode profiled a woman who is a severe alcoholic living in Glouster, Massachusetts. While explaining this woman’s background, her daughters gave a short tour of the town and then finished by noting that Glouster is most famously known for the story “The Perfect Storm” which chronicles the loss of the fishing boat named “The Andrea Gail”.
I found myself thinking a lot about that powerful story through-out the day. I read the book many years ago (long before the movie came out) and decided that I would like to read it again. The details and situations that author Sebastian Younger brings to life about that meteorologically unlikely event are mind boggling, not to mention that this is also where the term “The Perfect Storm” originated and is now used to describe any unlikely events coming together to multiply the destructive effect. Very interesting stuff!

S.C.O.U.T. - I hop in bed that night and open to my book mark to discover the next random story that Uncle John is dying to impress me with and open to the title “What makes a perfect storm?” , which, as you have probably already guessed, is about that very same fateful storm that turned the Atlantic ocean upside down and sunk the swordfish boat “Andrea Gail” on October 30, 1991.

Is it too corny to say that I was “blown away” to have this story appear in front of me just hours after thinking about it for the first time in years? Yeah, probably, but that now familiar shiver ran down my spine and I thought “uncanny“. Its as if someone is following my thoughts around and commenting on my inner dialogue. It leaves me wondering, once again, how that could be possible. God? The universe? Quantum physics? Law of attraction? Synchronicity? Premonition? All of the above…?

I tried to run all this by my goofy dog Scout to get his thoughts, but he had no opinion on the subject. Even though Portuguese Water Dogs were originally bred to work on fishing boats and this story should be of great interest to him, its not. He’s probably the only water dog ever born who hates the water and therefore has no interest in talking about 100ft waves. He also sees no irony in that statement. Oh well, as usual, its just me, myself and I to figure this one out.