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!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

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.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

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.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

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.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

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.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

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.