Yesterday, I was
proofreading/editing on Jim’s memoir, Indelible,
and came across a story about picking up a Memory Walk T-shirt that my
sister-in-law had made into a tank top for me. When I read that, I realized I
hadn’t seen the shirt in years and doubted if I still had it.
Later in the
afternoon, after doing some housework, I realized I’d worked up a sweat. I went
into the walk-in closet, lifted up some shirts stacked on a wire rack, and
picked a white one to pull out from the middle of the stack. It was the long
missing tank top.
I don’t know how
many books I’ve read, or TV shows I’ve watched where someone says, “I don’t
believe in coincidences.” What exactly is a coincidence anyway? A coincidence
is the occurrence of events that happen by accident. It seems that lately in my
life—coincidences rule.
At the Missouri
State Fair, during one of the live acts I watched, the performers sang “Suds in
the Bucket,” a song we hear in line dancing exercise class. This song was a hit
for Sara Evans fifteen years ago! Okay, so I’ll admit that wasn’t too odd.
The next day,
Harold and I went to brunch at Golden Corral, and were the first two in the
building. While we were taking our plates to the buffet line, someone cued up
the music. “Suds in the Bucket” was the first song they played.
The last day of the
Missouri State Fair, I needed to pick up some Alzheimer’s brochures, my photos,
and my granddaughter’s drawing. I decided to go to the fairgrounds early to
pick up the brochures because I had to pick them up before six p.m. The artwork
and photos couldn’t be picked up until 6:30.
Widespread rain was
moving into the area and I wanted to limit the amount of soaking I would
endure. I’m sure it’s just a coincident that even in the midst of a drought; it
always rains during the fair.
For some reason, I
decided to walk down a different street than usual. I stopped to watch some
horse-drawn carriages and moved on. I decided to take a shortcut between two
tents, and came face-to-face with my son. Rob was hanging around to see if the
races were going to be rained out.
Rob decided to go
with me to pick up the Alzheimer’s brochures. Before we had even moved from the spot, a man stopped
and shook my hand. “It’s good to see you, Linda,” he said. It was a man I had
served with on the Alzheimer’s Greater Missouri Chapter board of directors.
You don’t have to
believe in coincidences for them to happen. How many times have you been
thinking about a song, and turned on the radio at the exact same time it was
playing? Or maybe you were thinking about an old friend, and she called you.
Have you ever had a sick feeling in your stomach that something bad was going
to happen, and you find out later that something bad happened at the time you
had the feeling?
Was it a coincident
that Jim was a Vietnam veteran—was exposed to Agent Orange, suffered from PTSD,
had clinical depression—and developed a rare dementia? It could have been a
coincident…
Coincidences can be
great surprises, life’s little mysteries, or downright weird. I know some
people don’t believe serendipity assumes a significant role in our lives, but I
believe it does. Sometimes, I think most of the pivotal events in my life have
been the product of chance and coincidence. Click here to support me in the Walk to End Alzheimer's!
Copyright © Aug 2018
by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ
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