“#!*%&$!”
Not sure what specific curse burst from my mouth as I watched the pill kit hit the floor and spill part of its contents. We were packing to head home after our little getaway last week when I had to stop everything to get on my hands and knees to pick up 18 pills of varying sizes & shapes. Found 16 pretty quickly but the other two eluded me for several minutes.
Great, I’m thinking to myself, trying to head off any omen-making from this mishap. Omen-making is the reaction that when something goes wrong, you figure the whole day is going to shit, so what the hell, why even try?
The good news is you can stop those thoughts dead in their tracks rather than falling for the self-fulfilling prophecy. I took a deep breath and turned my attention back to to the fact that we still had a bit of time before we starting rolling home. Deep breaths, deal with the current situation, and move on.
Back home later that day, I was walking our dog, Stella, when I spotted a chalk drawing on the sidewalk by the high school. Stepping across it from the wrong side, I stopped and turned back to read it. What I saw made me grin big time. I dug my phone out of my pocket took a snapshot.
As I turned back to walk on, I chuckled, thinking of my recent discovery of the newsletter from Rob Walker (The Art of Noticing). Glad I noticed that uplifting message. Starting to stroll again, I noticed several coins scattered on the grass by the sidewalk there. Had I not stopped and turned to look at the sidewalk art, I would have walked right past them, likely without even seeing them. Instead, I got a visual echo of my morning mess, but this time with money instead of dropped pills. I bent over and picked up all the quarters, nickels and pennies and walked on.
When I counted the coins, I had to smile: $1.11. There’s just something magical in that sort of repeating number, almost like a coded signal from the universe. My grin from seeing the chalk art grew even bigger as I smiled at the synchronicity this world constantly shows us — whenever we pay enough attention.
Hang in there, friends — brighter days ahead.
Buller's back porch 