A WINK FROM THE COSMOS

As a pragmatist, a practical-minded individual, I am somewhat surprised when mystical and bizarre incidents occur in my life.  Recently, I experienced one of these rare occurrences which leave little doubt in my mind that the Cosmos is at work.

A couple of days ago, on Sunday evening, James and I attended a church-wide Thanksgiving dinner.  As were driving to church, I told him that I hoped someone would sit at our table and talk to us.  We are relatively new in the church and don't know a lot of people so we were delighted when a couple about our age asked if they could sit with us.  Immediately we began a lovely conversation. 

They introduced themselves to us as Mary Beth and Kim, K-I-M.  He spelled his name as I suppose his name is often confused with Ken, K-E-N.  When he said Kim, I immediately thought of a guy I knew at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, in the early 1970's, Kim W.  That in itself is rather strange as I have not seen or heard from Kim W. since then.  The last I heard, he had transferred to the University of Oklahoma and was living in Norman.  That was around 1973. 

After the church dinner and the next morning, I was going about my typical Monday morning routine, when out of the blue, I had a second fleeting thought about Kim W. from East Central.  I wondered where he is and what he is doing nowadays, if indeed he is still alive.  I pondered this for a moment and then quickly, my mind moved on to other things.

This is where the story gets interesting. Later that same day, I made a trip to Walmart.  I had just placed several shopping bags in the back of my car, closed the rear door, and began to push my shopping cart to the cart return area.  Someone came from behind me and said, "Are you Nancy?"  I turned and looked into the face of a man I didn't recognize, smiled, and said, "Yes, now tell me who you are."  He replied, "Kim W."  I nearly came unglued and told him I had literally thought of him just that morning and couldn't for the life of me think of what had triggered his memory to come to my mind.  I'm sure he thought I was making it up and understandably so. 

We chatted for a few minutes with the usual things two people would say to each other after 45+ years.  I gave him a hug and commented on his beautiful blue eyes, as I remembered them.  I asked him if he recognized me after all these years, which was a dumb question, but he said yes.  I was more than flabbergasted. 

By the time I put my cart away and was opening my car door, he was in his car and driving out of the lot.  As he drove past, he stopped, rolled down the passenger window and said it was great seeing me again, and off he went.

I immediately called my sister Jayme and told her the entire story.  In her dramatic fashion, she wondered what could it mean and what am I supposed to do with it? Is it a "sign"?  I told her it's probably a coincidence but my gut told me it was a lot more than that. When I shared my experience with James, Mr. Analytical, he concluded it was something between an uncanny coincidence and just maybe, there was a slim chance, it was a "sign". 

I've had a day to think about this.  Was it a sign, coincidence, intuition, or 
what?  I struggled to make sense of it all.  I have since discovered this unique phenomenon is an unexplained human ability, a mystery, and for those who are open to the possibility, true magic!  In other words, synchronicity.  A synchronicity can be all of those things: mysterious, magical, and I would venture to say it could be a "wink from the Cosmos"!  For whatever reason, I had the good fortune to experience something inspired by God or maybe it was simply an unexplained lark. It made me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself prompting me to preserve what happened in this note.

We live in a chaotic world filled with doubt, a place where bad things happen daily, a world in which we are bombarded with the ugliness of human nature.  In the midst of all the darkness, a sparkling little gem called synchronicity was dropped into my life.

One thing of which I am sure, I was gifted a "wink from the Cosmos".  As a result, my heart is full with hope, surprise and genuine delight.