I respond: "Mr. Tram without help and an order of spring rolls" (Mr. Tram owns a local vietnamese restaurant. He has only one hand)
SL: "and that is how the Asian salad was invented..."
Later that night while on a date with her husband, SL asked the chef about the salad and the response was: "it's basically a spring roll without the wrap..."
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Steve's dad was in the Air Force, because of this, their family lived all over the place.
California, Nebraska, Florida, Korea, Pennsylvania. I may be forgetting a couple of other places.
Last weekend, Steve travelled 2500 miles away to golf in Pebble Beach which is near San Francisco.
While he was there, he met an older gentleman who was a retired teacher.
In the course of their conversation, they realized that this man had taught at the same school that Steve was in when Steve was in second grade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every single morning I say a prayer of thanks for protection throughout the night.
Lately, I also have started trying to listen to what God might be trying to tell me.
Last saturday morning, unbeknownst to me-- Gabi lit a candle up in our third floor.
(She had been observing how much I enjoy the serenity of candles and quiet up there. Understandable)
It was an old candle, on its last few runs. I add this information just so I can tell you that I know how that particular candle burns.
Anyhow--she forgot to blow it out.
I did not discover this lit candle until close to noon the next day.
27 hours after she lit it, it was still burning, its physical form remained unchanged.
UNCHANGED.
There is no logical explanation for this.
And I am not claiming any special protection plan from God--but what I do know is this:
If I have any doubts about whether God listens,
the-unattended-unmelted-candle-that-could-have-burned-our-house-down-while-the-girls-and-I-lay-sleeping-through-the-night-while-Steve-was-in-California
is merely Him telling me that He does.
I never even told Steve this story because I did not want him to freak out.
Steve, if you are reading this, Gabi was really upset that she forgot about the candle.
We now have certain rules in place to avoid testing God.
And I hid the lighter so that I don't test her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Synchronicity means a "meaningful coincidence" of outer and inner events that are not themselves causally connected.
(~Carl Jung, "The Process of Individuation" Man and his Symbols")
(~Carl Jung, "The Process of Individuation" Man and his Symbols")
Jung also writes, "synchronistic events provide an immediate religious experience as a direct encounter with the compensatory patterning of events in nature as a whole, but inwardly and outwardly."
"Synchronistic events offer us perceptions that may be used in our psychological and spiritual growth and may reveal to us, through intuitive knowledge that our lives have meaning."
(~Jean Shinola Bolen, MD, The Tao Of Psychology)
(research done by Islandnet dot com, who unfortunately also writes about astrology)
Apparently, another term for all of this in hip lexicon is the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.Whether it is synchronicity or Baader-Mywhatchamacallit
I personally see all of these experiences as a sign that right now I am in tune with my life.
That I am exactly where I am supposed to be and doing exactly what I am meant to do.
It is giving me more courage to just trust.
TRUST.
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The other day I got a text from my friend NG inviting me and two other women to lunch at her house next week. I said yes, but added that if the others decline, then she and I should just go over to Trams Vietnamese.
Many hours later I got another text from my friend Suzanne (completely unrelated to my conversation with NG):
"Oh no Trams is closed for health violations."
My response:
"It's not his fault he could not wash his hands properly."