What Are the Odds?

I love The Bay Area in California. Even though I now live in Wisconsin, I am still drawn to the beauty of the sun and the warmth with the smell of eucalyptus and the misty feeling of the ocean on my face. I used to run the hills of SF at 4:30 am during my internship and residency and felt the full sensation of the natural beauty of that beautiful place.

I was also in the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1990.

Today, I was talking about how beautiful the sun felt to Jeannie at the pet store in Pewaukee this morning where I was getting cat food for my cat. It reminded me of the way the sun shined in the Bay Area. Jeannie told me that she too lived in the Bay area and she too was in the Loma Prieta earthquake, and yes, the sun today reminded her of when she lived there. At this point, another customer walked in to buy a dog cookie and heard our conversation. Turns out she was born and raised in the Bay Area and was also in the Loma Prieta earthquake!

So here we were, three women in Pewaukee, WI, who all shared a deep love for the Bay Area and were all in the 1987 earthquake.

It was a surreal and magical moment. I didn’t want it to end! The numinosity was palpable.

What are the odds of us meeting in that moment in time in the middle of the midwest with our shared experiences from the same moment from our past in the Bay Area?

In any case, we parted ways intimately connected to each other through our love for San Francisco. Maybe we will get together periodically and share a cup of California coffee, tell stories, share memories and photographs of our home from the past far away from our home in Wisconsin…

I certainly hope so!

There must be a word in the English language to describe moments like these.

“Synchronicity” falls short of the magical precision that moments like these hold.

Isn’t life amazing?