Last night I had a conversation with a friend who brought up the idea of synchronicity as it was illustrated in “Slumdog Millionaire,” in which the events of the young man’s life made it possible for him to excel at the game. Personally, I think he would have traded the money for some of those things to have not happened, but in the moment, synchronicity was on his side. My conversation with my friend got me thinking about the events of my own life – how at various times I was presented with opportunities and I didn’t even know it. I blindly continued along one path as another one disappeared, unaware that it was evaporating like just another fog on a sunny day.
This morning I saw something that impressed and slightly alarmed me. I was driving home through the great city of Northridge, CA, and I stopped at a light. A woman crossed the intersection there, walking among a crowd of other pedestrians. She caught my attention because she was black as the night on this sunny morning, and her face was bright as the sun. She talked to the other people around her, clearly strangers who warily responded.
And then it hit me.
She was The Crazy.
Last fall I went with my family to a beach north of Malibu. Stewart went surfing while my father and I played on the shore with the boys. A crazy woman in a cowboy hat and one-piece bathing suit that revealed far. too. much. came walking up to us and made the oddest, most uncomfortable conversation. Plus, she was a Close Talker, close enough so we could see The Crazy in her eyes. We couldn’t get away from that woman fast enough. On another occasion I might be tempted to engage in the conversation to see where it led, but I was with my kids, and she was showing just a little bit too much interest in them. My inner mama bear took over, and as politely as we could, my father and I extricated ourselves from her attention span, and she glommed on to some other unsuspecting family.
Why was this woman here on the same street as me, then, months later, miles away from the original encounter? Luckily this time she was fully dressed, otherwise there might have been car accidents.
I watched her as she and the other walkers reached the opposite street corner. I craned my neck as I drove away, unsettled, and thankfully avoiding my own car accident.
Maybe it’s continued nostalgia for the past. Maybe it’s cold(er) weather that makes my mind turn inward to examine the events and people in my life. Maybe it’s the quick passage of time – I have only one week left before I’ll be working every day in a gray cubicle again for a while. But I get the distinct feeling that someone is trying to tell me something.
I totally get your post. I love having those moments – like the Universe is trying to tell you something, whether it’s “hey, stop that!” or “yes, you are on the right path”. I think we get a lot more of those messages than we realize. Sometimes we are in a bit of a fog or too busy or in denial to notice, and other times our eyes are wide open and receptive to them.
Have you ever seen the movie “Grand Canyon” with Steve Martin, Kevin Kline and Danny Glover? If not, you must… it is your post exactly.