One Week, Four (Known) Coincidences

Coincidences happen. Patterns appear. Ideas come into your head and you think, "Wow, isn't that interesting."

I've been dealing with coincidences for twenty some years. And for the most part, I'm usually happy just to enjoy the coincidences for what they are: an interesting series of events. (Some would say a random series of events.) But with four unique coincidences in about a week's time, I just had to share.

It all started with an email I got from my brother Chris.

Chris saw the picture of the horse that I had recently posted on my blog. Chris realized the coincidence: earlier in the day, he had seen a similar horse on an online video. There's not many places in the world where they wire plastic toy horses to the street. The video that Chris watched documented the same artist (Scott Wayne Indiana) who was surely responsible for the horse that I had photographed.

Because of this coincidence, I actually learned something about the world around me. I always just assumed that the horse I photographed was a random, one off, kind of thing. But my assumption was wrong. That horse was just a small part of something much bigger, the Horse Project.

Ok, next coincidence.

I'll keep this one short. No need for you to wade through excess minutia. This coincidence involves Marley, our 4-year old Siberian husky. Marley went to the dog park and caught (found) a 20 dollar bill with his mouth. Later, that same day, Marley caught a bumble bee, right out of the air, with his mouth. Sadly the bee died. It's a wild world out there folks, what can I say.

Coincidence number three.

I bought a new camera. A Canon digital. I came home from the store and starting making exposure after exposure. Later that night, I pulled Ansel Adams' book An Autobiography off the shelf and start reading while I was lying in my bed. I noticed that Ansel died on April 22, 1984. I checked my watch. My watch said April 22. It was a beautiful coincidence--probably my favorite of the four--and the spirit of Ansel kept me up most of the night.

Last Coincidence. This one's a double-decker.

Yesterday was a writing day for me. I spent the day at home in my office. I immersed myself in the Yosemite chapters of my book. I worked long and hard and took breaks as I needed them. I took a break around 10:00am to walk Marley (believe me, I was waiting for him to catch another strange item with his mouth). I came back from the walk and continued writing. During my next break I sat down on my bed and played my guitar, recording a melody that I had recently created. The guitar (and the recording process) distracted me for about 30 minutes. I felt the day sliding through my fingers and I forced myself to get back to work. I moved back to my writing chair and wrote some more. I looked out the window and saw the sunlight. I was happy to be writing on a sunny day because Yosemite is brilliant and sun filled kingdom--one of my favorite places in the world. I wrote and read and rewrote. The day progressed. During my next break I wrote a few emails and then ventured over to the Apple Trailers website. While sipping a hot cup of coffee, I watched the trailer for Glass, A Portrait Of Philip in 12 Parts. It looked like a good film. I watched the trailer again. There's a fine line between inspiration and procrastination. For the remainder of my writing day, I left the window with Glass Trailer open, so I could watch it whenever I wanted. Philip Glass was a composer that I was barely familiar with. I did some research and found out that Philip and I share the same day of birth: January 31. Interesting, right? Don't worry, there's more.

So later that night, after finishing with the day's writing, I'm lying in bed with my laptop on my chest. As usual, Martin Guitar Masterpieces is between me and my laptop. (The book is just the right size to make a perfect laptop platform/heat shield.) I'm on Youtube, researching some different musicians. I find a Paul Simon video that looks interesting. It's all about the making of Graceland. So I'm watching the video, enjoying the music and the insight, thinking I should listen to more Paul Simon, and then, out of nowhere, the video cuts to Philip Glass, who's adding his own thoughts about Graceland. "No. Way," I think to myself. I bring up the trailer for the Glass movie and watch it again so I can visually confirm the sighting. Yep, it's Philip alright. I smile and sigh and realize how it's the fourth coincidence in the last week or so, not that that's good or bad or anything else. It just is. I'm not looking for meaning. Yet. Or maybe I am. It's hard to say. The thought did cross my mind that maybe I should go to Graceland. I've never been there.

"For reasons I cannot explain there's some part of me that wants to see Graceland."

But no. I ground myself with logic. Cold, clear logic. Coincidences don't tell me what to do. I tell myself what what to do. But what if I tell myself to follow an impulse that came from a coincidence? Surely there are other worlds out there that are driven by forces other than logic? Like the world of love.

I close the Youtube window and watch the trailer for the Glass documentary again. I love that trailer. I wonder when I'll be able to watch the whole film. I wonder what other coincidences I will find as time goes by. I wonder how many coincidences I've missed.