More Quinky Dinks

1. The other day I was watching an old VHS tape of some old Disney movie with the kids. I see a preview for a Disney movie I have never heard of but think looks very cute and has a lot of NOLA type jazz music in it - Trumpet of the Swan. I ask MIL if she knows it since she is more up on Disney movies than I am. Nope - never head of it or seen it before she says. I look it up on Amazon. Find it. Consider buying and then decide not to. MIL and I go to Target today. She wants to look at DVDs for the kids. I am standing there while she is browsing the $5.50 DVD rack. I am mostly uninterested after a quick scan. Suddenly, I look down at the bottom right corner and low and behold there sits ONE copy of Trumpet of the Swan. I scream, snatch it and throw it in the cart all to my MIL's amazement. Of course, I then explained to her and she was equally as impressed that I found it.

2. I watched the pop-up version of Camp Rock with daughter today (ya know where they have the pop-ups that tell you about the props, behind the scenes, filming, etc?) and one of the tidbits on there was why is Peggy a nickname for Margaret. My MIL and I found the answer rather intersting and something we have never heard before. So I am catching up on my blog reading today and News From Nola has a post where she says she and her co-workers googled that exact question the other day. Just weird how for the first time ever I hear the explanation only to read someone else's blog an hour later who posed the same question recently!

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

I was out for my now every other day 1 mile slow jog and to make the time pass I started blogging in my head again. I can't get the recent post about Coincidence out of my head. Thanks to NolaNotes for getting me started on that one. I told her I had been giving that subject a lot of consideration for posting but it seems a hard one to tackle. I gave it a try and in a minimal amount of space. I could say so much about the subject. So here is more.

Today, I thought of another story about signs. If you are a regular reader you know that my grandmother passed away recently. I was thinking about that when I was jogging. And while I was thinking, I suddenly remembered something that happened the night before. I had to really think about the timing of the incident to make sure I was correct. After much thought I know that this happened the night before she died because my mom was in town and my husband was packing to leave for a business trip the next morning. He was gone already when we got the call about my grandma at 5:30am because his flight was at 6am.

The night before my grandma passed I was in our bathroom bathing the kids. I was at my sink filling a cup with water to rinse my daughter's hair when I noticed my shells that sit on the ledge just below my mirror were missing. I knew instantly what happened! Hubby cleaned the bathroom and threw them away! He hated those shells for some reason. I yelled for him to come to the bathroom. I asked what happened to my shells. Sure enough he casually said he threw them away. Why? I asked. Because I was trying to straighten up the sink area and they are just stupid shell pieces, he said. I became enraged but had to keep it under control because we had company and the kids were in earshot. I clenched my teeth and told him I did not appreciate him throwing out my shells without asking me. In fact, I told him he is never to throw out anything that is mine without first asking. That is just common courtesy! He seemed stunned that I was so mad and profusely apologized. He admitted he was wrong, but why so angry?

I told him those shells were collected at Virginia Beach by My Girl and I the last time we visited my Grandma. They were not only beautiful (even though they were small and some just pieces) but they were a momento of our trip to see Grandma and the time My Girl and I spent on the beach together collecting them. He felt really bad then. I actually cried about those shells and was REALLY upset.

Now, let me say, I don't get all that sentimental about things. I have lost many a thing that I at one time considered valuable but once it was gone I got over it. I was even a little confused myself why I was crying over these shells.

But, here is the odd thing. Why did I suddenly notice the shells missing that very night. The night before she died. When in fact, he had cleaned the bathroom and threw them out 5 days before? I used that sink everyday, several times a day. Why did I just notice in that instance?

Hmmmm.

Then, after my mom and I were up early in the morning after the phone call, we sat at my kitchen island sharing a pot of coffee and taking in the news we just received when she told me this . . .

"Ya know, I didn't sleep well last night. I have been here 4 nights and have slept just fine. But last night, I couldn't sleep. I suddenly woke up at 1:30 in the morning and just laid there in bed thinking."

"What were you thinking about?", I asked

"I was thinking about how your dad and I should go to Virginia to see Grandma over Easter. That we shouldn't wait for our annual trip in September."

Coincidence? Fate? Signs? Who knows?

NolaNotes asked her readers to write about whether or not they believe in coincidence. I promised her a post and here it is.

My hubby and I have had this type of conversation in great detail many times. Especially, in the last two years when our lives have taken some crazy twists and turns. God and fate are often analyzed and compared in these conversations as well. I am not religious (There ya go. Now you all know I am going to hell!) and my beliefs are such that a force guides us throughout life and offers us crossroads/opportunities and we must decide which way to go. I often wonder if coincidence isn't just affirmation for the choices we make.

That said, here is one story from my life that is full of coincidence.

I am in college. Looking for a job. Giving up hope. Very tiny ad in our school newspaper,which usually has junk job ads, says they are looking for someone who knows Photoshop and QuarkXPress - two design programs. (Coincidence #1 - a real ad for a real job in our school newspaper!) Ad simply has an email to send resume. I send mine. No clue where it is. I was trying to move to the mountains in the New England area. At this point I don't care where it is. I get a response back to interview the very next day! I find out it is in the middle of the mountains in WV. (Coincidence #2 - it is in the mountains!) I skip class and drive 3 hours to the interview. I get the job on the spot. It is for web designing. I have no clue how to do that (this is 1996) and they don't care. (Coincidence #3 - web designing job in a small town in West Virginia? Certainly not where you would think you would find a cutting edge job?)

I am hired to replace someone who is moving. Two weeks in I am ready to quit. Hate the people I work for. On the replacee's last day (Willis is his name) we are driving back to the office from lunch and I express my situation to him. He encourages me to stay and even goes as far to say I will probably end up marrying someone from there. I laugh out loud. Willis is dead serious. I ask why he thinks that. He says it is just that type of place. (Huh?) Anyway, he invites me out the next night to meet some of his friends so I will know some people and maybe have someone to hang out with. He thinks that will make it easier.

So I arrive at the designated meeting place at the designated time. No Willis. Never showed up that night at all. (Coincidence #4- I find out later he got a flat tire an hour outside of town. Had he been there. What happened next may never have happened.)I hit the bathroom first and found a set of keys laying on the sink. I pick them up and take them to the bartender. He tells me to put them back. I tell him I won't as someone will come looking for them later. He tells me it is a small town they will know exactly where to look and will be back for them. I throw the keys across the bar at him and say not so nicely, "Just take the damn keys!". He buys me a beer and tells me to sit down. I marry him 3 yrs and 3 mos later.

It is hard for me not to ask how did I find my way to this town. Why did the series of events take place as they did so my husband and I would meet. I wasn't looking for a job in West Virginia or for Web Design. How did Willis know I would marry someone I met in that town? (Hubby is not FROM there, just lived there.) Why did Willis get that flat tire that night and never show up?

Thinking about it more now, coincidence might not be the right word for what happened. Was it fate? God? Who knows.

Hubby and I often talk about this sorta stuff happening. Like ending up down here in New Orleans. Him always wanting to run his own business. The job he found suddenly down here. Then the person he met through that job. Then losing his job at a particular time when the said person above approached him about doing his own thing. Now, he does his own thing. His dream.

Why do we meet certain people in our lives that catapult us to a decision or instance where our lives change? Or maybe not change but take us to that path we are looking for?

Am I just getting old and looking for answers and reasons for the things that happen in my life when as a younger person I just didn't give a shit why?

So do I believe in coincidence? Maybe.
So do I believe in signs? I think so.
So do I believe in fate? I think so.

Do I even have any clue what I am talking about? Not really.
Do I think my readers think I am nuts after reading this post? Most definitely!