Syncronicity or Coincidence?
Aloha! Here’s a story for ya…I was in Hawaii last week visiting my friend, Nina, who lives on the big island of Hawaii. We were out on a catamaran, whale-watching, and we got chatting with a woman from Michigan who, for some reason, asked me if I’d been to Eastern Canada and specifically Prince Edward Island.
I said why yes, I had – in fact, Summerside PEI was THE reason I was on said catamaran in Hawaii whalewatching with a woman named Nina.
So I went on to tell Nina and the Michigan lady this story: my mom and I were traveling in Prince Edward Island about 4 years ago when my mom felt a bladder infection coming on. So I took her to the emergency in Summerside and while we were waiting for her to see a doctor, I picked up a Macleans magazine to read. And in that issue of Macleans happened to be an article about the Canadian-born silent screen star named Nell Shipman.
As I read the article, I thought to myself I HAVE to know more about this woman. Fast forward a few years and not only have I learned a great deal more about Nell Shipman, I am now also in the process of writing a screenplay about her. Which is how I met Nina: Nina is Nell’s granddaughter. We’d been in correspondence about the film project and rights etc. and we’d actually met in LA a year ago and hit it off. So she’d asked me to visit her in Hawaii – and I did!
I don’t think I’d shared with Nina the sordid details about my mother’s bladder infection being the original reason behind how I came to be interested in Nell Shipman. But thanks to the Michigan lady, now she knows!
At any rate, after the whale-watching excursion, Nina and I head back to the Hilo side of the island and on the way we stop at the National Park, Pu`uhonua o Honaunau (say that five times in a row), which is a former residence of the royal chiefs – and a very sacred place. So we get out of the car and Nina immediately heads towards the bathroom. Then we go on a tour of the park. Back in the car again, she tells me she’s pretty sure a bladder infection is coming on, so we head for home.
Then, back at her place again, I check my e-mail and low and behold there is a lone book order from Summerside, PEI. Summerside…what are the chances?
The next morning Nina tells me her bladder infection is gone.
Coincidence? Or are these wonky happenstances just friendly little reminders that when one is paying attention, perhaps the universe does let us know whether we’re headed in the right direction or not?
Maryanne
1 thought on “Synchronicity or Coincidence?”
When I was in art school more than 20 years ago, I painted a scene that was of Christ’s hands holding a crystal goblet upon which a butterfly was perched. The viewer would know it was supposed to be Christ’s hands because there is a fairly obvious wound on the back of the hand facing the viewer.
The ironic part is that I posed for the photography that the painting was based on, so it is my hand shown holding the cup. A day or two after I had finished the painting, a slight abrasion appeared on the back of my hand — the same hand that is shown with the stigmata in the painting.
I thought it was such a strange coincidence, that I photographed the abrasion on my hand to convince myself later that it really did happen. In hindsight, I figure it was merely a psychosomatic reaction to the whole experience.
Pat