3/29/14 - The Stray Branch

Find my literary short-short, "Our Heroes Suck," in the latest issue of The Stray Branch, hot off the "presses."

Link

3/24 - Surprise, Surprise

A couple days ago, I experienced a classic "recurrence," which is how I refer to your typical, run-of-the-mill incidence of synchronicity. However, I didn't pay much attention to this particular recurrence, because the time gap between the two recurring events was nearly a week, instead of hours or days (or seconds, or simultaneous, like so many are).

My log entry for the recurrence in question:

"3/22/14

A minor recurrence, quite possibly a coincidence. Sometime in the last week, I can't remember just when or where (it was in a book), I read a traveling tip on how you should tag your luggage with something distinctive so you can pick it out from a baggage carousel, etc. Then today, I got an unexpected package in the mail from a friend, in which was a bright, florid luggage tag, with a note saying that it helps to have distinctive tagging on your bags so you can pick them out, etc. Definitely a recurrence, but the time window is large enough that it isn't too notable."

An interesting event, certainly, considering the express exactness of the theme of "distinguish your luggage so it can be recognized," right down the same terms and wording. But it's not outside the realm of chance to encounter it twice within a week, because, for all the valid synchronicities out there, chance coincidence does, in fact, occur.

When I shared this recurrence with my friend, however, her response lent a new dimension to the incident:

"Since I wrote the letter and put the package together a week prior to mailing it, I would guess it was more of a synchronicity [than] you think."

I laughed.