When I was a little kid, I wished for two things: to fly and for magic. Lately I've been having the best flying dreams ever, so I think that might qualify, and synchronicity brings magic into my life big time. The most obvious example occurred about 3 years ago. I was cleaning out the garage and came across my high school yearbooks. Some cards fell out of the yearbooks and I read them. One was from an acquaintance - one of my boyfriend's friends. He wrote the loveliest things about my positive attributes, and I was touched years later by this boy I might otherwise never have remembered. THE NEXT DAY this boy, now man, emailed me: "Hi... I don't know if you'll remember me but...." He was married and had kids and was "just saying hi." What the? I wrote back and told him my story and never heard from him again. It must have seemed too weird. And it was. I hadn't talked to him let alone thought about him in 27 years. We are all so interconnected in ways unseen.

Synchronicity seems to occur in waves. There are periods where life is "as usual," and then phases where it all seems like a dream - the coincidences are so strange. Lately I've been going through one of those worm holes. I work on a chapter that includes a group of white American pelican and a red hot air balloon, and the next morning when I step out onto my deck - not so far in the distance is a red hot air balloon with the design: 3 white birds that could be seagulls - or perhaps - American white pelican. I am out feeding the goats in the morning when the balloons rise, so I have a good idea of their pattern. In the summer, they fly every weekend and occasionally on weekdays, but I have never seen only one balloon mid-week and there wasn't another balloon in the sky days before or days after that sighting. But this isn't so amazing in itself. It's always the string of events that seems to create the feeling that I am dreaming.

This week I decided to pull back from a male friend - we'll call him Frank. I realized that while I cherish our friendship I have fallen too far into love. I will continue to appreciate that lovin' feeling, but I need a bit of separation from him in case he ever announced he was serious about some woman. I think I would go into shock - as though someone had died. I thought I could maneuver the gray area, but unfortunately hearts are like little unruly beasts that have a mind of their own. And my heart has galloped away with me clinging to its neck. You know it's bad when I even think the man's bruised and bloodied big toe is endearing. But I drew the line when he did not introduce me to a close male friend who happened to come up and talk to him. It was like a slap that woke me up.

Ok Ok I have digressed. So, I step back, and the next day (yesterday) I attend a Rockies/Mets game with my daughters and three rows ahead of me sits Frank's identical twin - or it could have been. He was a younger version of Frank (still within my dating range) (And I'm no cougar ) and he has a Kurt Vonnegut novel tucked under his arm as though he might read during the 7th inning stretch. I am completely taken by the dude, studying him when his best friend looks back at me and starts flirting (thinking of course I am looking at him and not Frank's double). This happens to me about once every two years so I flirted back, but when they realized I was associated to the two teenagers next to me - either the prospect of teen girls terrified them or the idea that I had a 17 year old gave away my age - but at any rate the flirting stopped there. But what are the odds I manifest some twin?

The other coincidences are even more incredible, but too convoluted to write about - i.e. it would take too much time to write the back story, but suffice it to say, if enough of these things happen in a short amount of time I begin to wonder if the fairies aren't playing with my head... the universe has a major sense of humor and life is magical!

And, by the way, it is my beautiful and powerful mother's 70th birthday today. She is the one who taught me how to be aware of synchronistic events and to believe in a universe that supports us. Her name, ALMA, means "soul" in Spanish and she is soulful and big hearted - an angel for us all.