Kismet?

Maybe it's the 27 calories a day I'm living on right now, but I think I got a peek at the Divine Order of the Universe yesterday. It started in the early afternoon, when I almost burned down the farm. But it wasn’t my fault, and here’s why…

I flicked a lit match, thinking, “Wow, that’s close to the woodpile…what’re the chances?” and walked away. A short time later, I walked outside and heard crackling. As in, lovely burning-wood-in-a-fireplace crackling. Smoke was billowing up from the north pasture, along the [wooden] fenceline, where the cut wood is stacked. Half the woodpile was smoldering, and the bottom half of one fencepost (an 8x8) was gone, with tiny flames peeking from the center of the rotted-out top half. When I was done laughing hysterically at my own stupidity, I ran. For the house to get one garden hose. For the garden to get another. For the hydrant by the barn to hook both hoses together. For the woodpile, dragging 100-million pounds of spliced garden hose behind me. It took almost an hour of frantic running (because we didn’t want to be late for our trip to town), but I did my best Smoky Bear and put the fire out.

We made it to town in time to visit two old friends we hadn’t seen for ages, who just happened to be converging in one place. Jack had come from Chamberlain to play music at our local nursing home. He’s a human iPod, with a repertoire of 1100 songs, and a virtuoso at playing the piano by ear. He plays probably 3 times a month at nursing homes around Chamberlain, bless his chord-pickin’ heart. He had come all the way to Vermillion to play because another friend, Ed, lives in the nursing home for now. Ed had a major hemorrhagic stroke a couple years ago as the result of a fall, and is crawling his way back from complete left-side paralysis. Ed’s a wonderful musician himself, with one of the sweetest, clearest voices I know. He hasn’t recovered his ability to sing or play his guitar yet (left-side paralysis includes vocal cords), but he has an incredibly positive belief that it’s just a matter of time.

Then, because we were in town and pushing my new diet's four-hour limit between meals, I decided to take my sanctioned once-a-week “meal off." On a whim (literally...we were headed for the Hell-Mart parking lot and veered off at the last moment), Ray and I decided to try the new Asian buffet for the first time. Soon after we loaded our plates and sat back down in our booth, over walks Tim, a friend from the Old Verm days, with whom Ray and I played in a band called Second Wind.  For the past few decades, Tim's been living in Kansas, in a town where, coincidentally, my younger brother lives. And Tim told us a funny story about a guy he ended up working with in Kansas who, coincidentally, had once lived in Verm and was a regular fan of Second Wind.

And, if Tim hadn’t come over to our booth to catch up and reminisce, I would have gone back to pile up my plate again and again, and I would have eventually made it…dear lord no…to the dessert bar, and I wouldn’t have “made weight” this week.

Soooooo, if I hadn’t flicked that match, I wouldn’t have been running my fool head off and wouldn’t have gotten in my daily 20-30 minutes of exOrcise. And if we hadn’t gotten the fire out in time and made it to town, I wouldn’t have seen Jack and Ed for the first time in ages. And if we hadn’t gone to town to see Jack and Ed, we wouldn’t have decided to try out the new Asian restaurant. And if we hadn’t tried the restaurant, we wouldn’t have run into Tim and his wife, Penni for the first time in eons. And if we hadn’t run into Tim & Penni, I wouldn’t have made weight this week.

Believe anything you want. As for me, I believe the Universe carefully choreographed our day yesterday—a beautiful, perfectly timed dance, reminding me how grateful I am for good friends, salty food swimming in ginger sauce, and fine music. And the bottom line is clear, folks: 

(1) The Universe, not me, almost burned down the farm.

(2) The dieting brain can rationalize anything.