Serendipity, Providence, or a Friendly Universe

Occasionally, I am a knucklehead. (I have witnesses!) And often, I'm blessed.

While waiting around for school to let out, I described the student I was waiting for to another co-worker. "This 6th grader weighs 193 lbs. and is about 5' 9". I need his dad to sign some papers."



While waiting for this dad, I got to talking to another co-worker about some help she needed on an assignment for a class in her Masters' program. While I was talking, I saw the student come in, but I didn't see him leave. I didn't see his dad sign him out.

(It's not always fun being a knuckle-head.)

I would have missed my signature-obtaining opportunity except that the first co-worker was watching me missing the whole thing!

"Hey, Don! Isn't that the parent you're waiting for?"

"Duh!" (I ran out the door and got my signature.)

My co-worker came by my classroom later to laugh at me up-close-and-personal. I laughed too.

Her help was needed and appreciated. (One of my affirmations is: I can reach my goals, but I can't reach them alone. I need God and others.)



But this was just a small scale "miracle." A bigger one happened at my family reunion. Let me elaborate...

At the reunion I was nursing a bad back from a biking injury. On the last morning, of the last day of the reunion, I approached the wife of my cousin's son to ask for help: she's a licensed massage therapist.

Katrina, the therapist, helped my back and my mind. She's trained in a sort of acupressure massage called Jin Shin Do, in addition to Swedish massage. This training, and her gift for healing, enabled her to find long-buried tensions in my muscles.

She found the pressure points associated with grief, and I was able to cathartically release tensions of grief that I'd been unknowingly holding on to for over 12 years. (To say I cried would be a gross understatement.)

What brought about this wonderful meeting? My back injury! When all was said and done, I knew why I had hurt my back: I needed to meet Katrina and learn a few things. Plus, I needed healing.



A week or two ago I had a disturbing dream: I was high on a cliff, rock climbing towards an exit with my first wife. She slipped and fell several stories, landed in a shallow pool, broke her neck, and quickly died. I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't get myself to leave the cliff. Then I woke up. (Nobody ever dies in my dreams, at least until this one. It was not a nice dream.)

Twelve years ago, at the last family reunion, my first wife discovered a lump in her belly that turned out to be pancreatic cancer. That discovery led to life-altering changes that culminated in her death 5 1/2 years later.

Driving home from the reunion on Sunday, I remembered the dream... and understood it: Someone I loved deeply had died, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. That was sad, very sad.

When did that downward spiral of sadness start? At a family reunion. At some sub-conscious level I was dreading going to the reunion, but I went.



Providentially, at last weekend's reunion, I was able to release hidden, pent-up grief I had held on to, because at the time, I needed to "be strong for the kids." I did grieve at the time, but apparently, I had held back.

I hurt my back bike-riding, but God was moving me towards a rendezvous for my benefit. God is good. He loves us and cares for us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and if we let Him lead us, He will bring us to places of healing and wholeness.



Who knew? The children knew! They're the ones who sing, "He's got the whole world, in His hands..."

Call it what you like, serendipity, Providence, or a Friendly Universe, but I'm grateful that I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.

"I can reach my goals, but I can't reach them alone. I need God and others."

Thank you Katrina.