The universe connects.

My life has settled down into a quiet, simple, mundane routine of household chores and yard work that comes from living alone on a hobby farm in a rural community deep in the mountains with no close by neighbors. And I’m okay with that, I suppose. I’ve lived a good life, full of excitement and danger, good stress, intellectual stimulus, world travel, all that interesting kind of life you read about in novels. I’ve lived that life. But now it’s over. I’m older, content to slow down. But maybe it’s because I’m alone, no companion to share adventures with, I don’t know. I’m not actively looking for anyone. I’m content on growing my fruit tree orchard on my patch of land and raising my flock of chickens and ducks. My chocolate lab keeps me company when I watch tv at night, and goes on long walks with me around the farm roads and down to the creek that runs past my land in the pine and redwood forest nearby. It’s beautiful here. No noise, or people, or crime, or graffiti. Just birds, frogs and other bigger wildlife. My slice of paradise. But actually, it would be nice to share it with someone. And that’s where the universe comes in. Let me tell how.

My biggest adventure these days is when I go into town to do grocery shopping and stop at the coffee shop to have a coffee before driving home. On this day I bought a coffee and sat down at a table near the window so I could do some people watching. There were no people. So that was a bust. Looking around my spot, I noticed a book sitting on a chair , abandoned. I love to read, and there was nothing to watch, so I picked up the book. It was a travel guide about the best places to visit in Southern Africa. I was interested, and immediately got sucked in. I was born and raised in southern Africa, born in a British colony called Southern Rhodesia, lived in Northern Rhodesia for awhile, then in Rhodesia when Southern Rhodesia broke away from Britain and became independent. Lived in South Africa in KwaZuluNatal during my high school years, then back to Rhodesia for the last 3 years of the civil war after which it became Zimbabwe. I love Southern Africa, I miss it, every once in a while I become homesick for it. Reading the book, I could feel the homesickness creeping in. I turned to the chapter on Zimbabwe, and almost every page was filled with handwritten notes in the Margin,Sentences underlined. Love heats drawn next to the page about Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Ruins, Lake Kariba. There was even handwritten footnotes about Binga, where I was stationed during the war, talking about the Batonga tribe, and the beautiful grass baskets they made. I was very familiar! Then on the section about cities, major underlining and notes about Bulawayo, my home town. And then food, brasivleis, bolting, samosas. Oh, I was becoming so homesick! I could taste and smell home. Who was this person that lost this book in the coffee shop? They would want this book back, I’m sure. From their notes it was obvious they loved Zimbabwe.

I flipped through to South Africa, and it opened onto the section about the South Coast of KwaZuluNatal. Durban, And all the small villages I lived in, Amanzimtoti, Port Shepstone, Margate, St. michaels. Those towns were all underlined and noted. Lovehearted, exclamation marked. I lived in them, went to school, surfed. And when I graduated from high school, sailed out of Durban harbor on a giant container ship on my first job, going to all the ports on the coast, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town. And then later, I drove down the garden route, George, Knysna, and all the smaller villages in between, Jeffries Bay, where I surfed. All those areas were marked, underlined, noted. However this person was, they followed in my footsteps and loved the same places as me. Amazing. How could I find them and return the book to them, meet them and talk about Africa? I flipped through the book, page by page, the fly leaf, the back page, the book mark insert. Nothing. No name or address. I would never find out. But I now had the book to read. I left, and went home. To my California home, homesick for Africa.

I spent the next few weeks pruning my fruit trees, weeding my veggie garden, cleaning up my yard, keeping busy. The homesickness faded, life went on. New baby ducklings hatched, a new baby dwarf goat joined my farm. That was cool, dwarf goats are so cute. A mountain lion was seen lurking near the chicken coop, but none of my chickens were missing. I kept them locked up inside the coop instead of ranging outside, just in case. One day, I got a notice that a package was being held for me at the local post office that I had to sign for and pick up, so off I went to get it. When I got there, there was a lady at the counter, nice looking, well dressed, but not too fancy, not a city girl. Well, she was nice looking from the back, she didn’t turn around, so I couldn’t see her face. Her voice sounded good, she was in a conversation with the clerk, and I couldn’t help but listen in. They were talking about Africa and that she had been there and loved it. Michelle, the clerk behind the counter, actually the post mistress, it was a very small post office, saw me waiting, and said to the lady “ oh, here’s someone that comes from that part of Africa. He would love to talk about it with you”. The lady turned around, and smiled at me. It was like the sun came out from behind a dark cloud, the whole room got bright. She was gorgeous. “Hi there, I’m Sarah. I’m new to the area, and I was just telling Michelle about my recent trip to Africa. Well, recent as in 6 months ago.” I stuttered “ oh, where did you go? Africa is a huge continent. I’m originally from Southern Africa, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and I’ve been all over, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique. I was born in Rhodesia before it changed to Zimbabwe. Where did you go?” “ oh wow, what a small world. I went to most of those countries, not Angola though. Or Mozambique. Mostly Zimbabwe and South Africa. I loved those countries so much. I could go back in a heart beat.”Sarah exclaimed. Just then another customer entered the lobby, and Michelle asked us to leave the counter so she could help them. “don’t go away, I want to hear about Africa.” We walked outside, and continued the conversation. We were both talking fast, really excited about meeting and Africa memories. Sarah told me about her experiences, and I told her about my background. It turned out she went to a lot of places I had lived or been to. I asked her “ what made you pick Southern Africa to go visit out of all of Africa, or for that matter the world?” She replied that something just drew her to that region, and it called to her. She knew no one there, never considered it before, all her friends told her she was crazy, Africa was dangerous and scary, especially to go alone. But she just had to go. It was her destiny. Just then Michelle came out and joined us. “ fill me in. What did I miss?” “ oh, it is crazy. Sarah went to all the places I lived in, and trust me, some of those places are so isolated and out of the way, the coincidence is amazing! Such a small world.” I said. Sarah agrred. “ I had a really good travel guide, Lonely Plnet published it, I think. It listed all these out of the way small villages, and local foods and festivals. It was fantastic. I wrote a million notes it, and then I lost it. I left it in a coffee shop in Marysville, I was so bummed! I went back to look for it, but it wasn’t turned in. I guess someone liked it. I hope they will go to Southern Africa because of it. It will change their life.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I couldn’t believe it. The universe connected us. This large planet. Two huge continents, and not only did we meet, but I found her lost book, and it drew us together. I looked it up later On the internet. Synchronicity is what it is called.Synchronicity, introduced by psychologist Carl Jung in the early 20th century (1920s-1950s), refers to "meaningful coincidences"—the simultaneous occurrence of external events and internal thoughts/feelings with no direct cause. It serves as a, often, spiritual, signpost in personal growth, suggesting a deeper, non-causal connection between human consciousness and the universe.

That coffee shop is my special place now. It’s where the universe led me to meet my Sarah. Let the adventures begin. Together.