Mirror Synchronicity: Fly on the Wall

If you didn't watch the vice-presidential debates last night, you may have heard about the fly. Apparently a fly landed on Mike Pence's head and was there for a couple of minutes. He did not swat it away or react.  Perhaps because this has been a tense time for everyone, people are quick to find humor where they can. Apparently, the fly was so funny, it started trending on Twitter. It even made the New York Times. 

I go to see what all the fuss is about and when I go to play the debate, this comes on...

 

Mirror Synchronicity: Elvis lives on

Yesterday when I was getting a blood draw, the technician told me her mom went to high school with Elvis. He was a senior when her mom was a freshman.

Then I went to my first visit to a hospice patient with dementia and we started talking about music. I asked her who she would like to hear and she said Elvis.

Later in the day, I was talking to a friend who went to the ADEC conference in Atlanta this year. The friend brought up a really interesting presentation that she had seen about celebrities who live on in lore...and of course, my friend mentioned Elvis as an example. I screamed in her ear.

Elvis lives on.  Two synchros in one day and I wouldn't have bothered, but after I heard the third, I had to post.

Mirror Synchronicity: Damn Raccoons

This week we noticed that every morning when we were leaving for work, our cat Kizzy was staring outside. There were raccoons climbing up to our 2nd floor deck.

We thought it was a one-off but then when it happened several days in a row, I started looking online to see what I could find about repelling raccoons. I'm cheap so I wanted to use something natural. I sprinkled a bunch of cayenne pepper around the deck and started collecting cat hair.

When my friend Kristi asked me to go to lunch, I sent her a text asking her to collect some dog hair and bring it with her. She asked why and I sent her the above picture. Her response was, "Sure, but I'm not sure it will work because it hasn't stopped them from tearing a hole in our soffit..."  She sent me this picture:

Damn raccoons.

At lunch we talked about the expenses to repair all of the damage caused so far by these rascals. I was horrified and nervous about my homemade method of deterrent. When I got home, I went out on the deck and found the raccoon toilet. I have a picture, but I will spare you the visual of seven piles of crap. I started reaching my phone through the deck railings to try to take pictures of where the deck meets the house and discovered WE HAVE A HOLE TOO.

Damn raccoons.

I might have never thought to look for the hole had Kristi not asked me to lunch & I thought to ask for dog hair. This mirror synchronicity might have saved us from more damage. I hope.

Mirror Synchronicity: Ninjas on the mind

For the past two months, I have been working on an article connecting ninjutsu to hospice. I read multiple books and wrote my article. I sent it to our editor and then she had several changes which I found discouraging. I let the article sit for another two weeks and then finally resolved to finish it.  You can read it here if you're interested...

Immediately after I finished it, I texted my one of the other editors to let him know that it was finally done. Then I looked at the mail stack that my husband had left for me, and I had a Postcrossing postcard from Japan with tiny ninja stickers on it.

The following day, I received another package in the mail and it was Japanese Newsweek with an article that I was in!

I think I'm turning Japanese. I think I'm turning Japanese.,. I really think so. Honestly though, I love Japan. My family was stationed in Okinawa when I was an infant and I was told at one time my first words were Japanese... 

Mirror Synchronicity: The Other Me

Lately my name has been coming up a lot in reference to other people with the same name. The first incident was on Jeopardy. My husband was laughing when they introduced the contestants and one was "Liz Miles." He wanted to know if I wanted a picture. I did not. Especially not after she talked about the sex life of Japanese men during her story. What?!



Here's an article written about her unexpected story.

But then a week later, I saw a CEU at work offered by Liz Miles, a pharmacist. I have not met another Liz Miles in person, so I might go to the class even though it is over my head. Kind of cool that these two are smart people. I'm in good company.

The icing on the cake though was a very long email I just got, thanking me for my involvement in some camp in Colorado.

It read in part:

Great Job everyone!

I want to say a great big THANK YOU to each of you for the part you played in making our first day of Expedition Norway go so well!  We had 125 kids come today and every one of them had a huge smile on their face!  I loved seeing you all interacting with the children and loving on them.  My heart is overflowing with gratefulness for all of you and for what God is 

doing through you!

I don't know this for sure, but I wonder if it's the same Lizzy Miles in Colorado who bought Cutco knives, which is (I believe) the sister of "Bruce" who invited her to a wedding. Both the knives and the wedding invitation were connected to a Lizzy Miles in Colorado. The knives purchase scared me because I knew I didn't buy any knives and I worried about identity theft. I researched the situation and confirmed that is was a typo on the email. whew! 
Bruce was apologetic that he sent me a wedding invitation intended for his sister. He said since it was his sister he should have known better. I don't have any brothers... maybe Bruce will be my honorary brother.

There is also a Lizzy Miles in England for whom I get email. One was bad for me to receive. Though I have never met her, I feel it's not my place to share her medical information that was sent to me by mistake. Certainly, I emailed the senders and they were quite embarrassed. Strangely, they wouldn't give me Lizzy's true email address. I wanted it in case I got other emails that were intended for her (which has happened.)

So what does all this mean? It is a big reminder to me how connected the world is. I think we always were connected, but now with the internet, it's almost supernatural (in a good way.)  I would like to meet some of the other Liz Miles/Lizzy Miles people out there. Maybe if they google themselves, they'll find this article...

Mirror Synchronicity: No Fate

The last time I was in Las Vegas we ate at Chin Chin Chinese restaurant at New York New York Casino. The meal was excellent. After the meal, the waiter brought the check and fortune cookies. As you can imagine, I LOVE fortunes and all that stuff. I was disappointed to find that my fortune cookie was empty of a fortune. When the waiter came back with the credit card, I mentioned the empty cookie (with hopes I would get another cookie, I think.)  Without missing a beat, the waiter said,

“There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

I then learned from my husband and the waiter that the quote was a line from the Terminator. I don't know if the waiter had used that line before, but I thought it was quite witty to come up with that response so quickly.

This happened 5 months ago, and as I am getting ready to go to Las Vegas again, yesterday I was thinking about that restaurant and that exchange with the waiter.

Then last night I was watching the latest episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. There is an episode set in Turkey. The main character is reminiscing with an old friend and said, 

"How did we get here from there?"

His friend replied, "The future has not been written. There is no fate but what we make."

Another character said, "That's beautiful, is that from the Koran?"

and of course Gary Sinise's character replies, "Terminator II"

So, this is definitely a mirror synchronicity that happened for me and I wonder if it is a directional synchronicity too. Is the universe reminding me that my future is in my hands?

Mirror Synchronicity: School Zone

Today as I was driving through a school zone with my husband, he mentioned that sometimes he forgets to slow down. He described how some lady yelled at him.

I said I used to forget, until I got pulled over once. He didn't remember that I had.

I told him that I just got a warning, which he couldn't believe. "I thought school zone tickets were automatic," he said.
We ended up talking about school zones for several minutes.

This evening, when I logged on my computer, I got a Facebook prompt to see my "memories" from today.

Imagine my surprise to see this from seven years ago today:

Mirror Synchronicity: The origin of the Vulcan symbol

When I first started this blog, I said I would only blog when I had synchronicities. I was very good for the first few years and then it fell off. Well, I have had several synchros in a row that were quite odd. I felt that I needed to come back to posting to here when things happen. This is a record for me to remind me of the nature of the universe.
So anyways...
A couple of days ago, I was in a Half Price Books store when an older woman came up to me and told me that she liked my t-shirt. It said, "Happiness is an inside job." (Nothing to do with Star Trek.) She asked me where I got it, which I thought was an odd question. I was slightly embarrassed to say that I still shop at Forever 21. Sidebar. Anyways. She randomly started talking about the Vulcan symbol and how she could never do it until the day "he" died. I asked if she was talking about Leonard Nimoy and she said yes. She mentioned that he borrowed the symbol from a Jewish gesture. The conversation was a long and strange encounter, and odd enough for me to tell my husband about it later that evening.

Tonight we were catching up on last night's Jeopardy. Leonard Nimoy was a category, and there was a question about the greeting that originated from a Jewish gesture. I didn't capture a picture, but the question was, you guessed it, "What is the Vulcan Salute?"

You can learn more about the Jewish origin of the Vulcan Salute here.

Mirror Synchronicity: Jesus is calling

I was visiting a hospice client with late stage dementia, and I noticed the caregiver had several books lying around.  We started talking about the books he had been reading and he mentioned that he had received the Jesus Calling book from a nurse of ours.  He said he found it to be incredible helpful and inspiring.  I made a note of it.

I went to visit my next client who has a very similar condition to the first client.  I thought about how similar their conditions were and also that they both had the same first name.  The son had music playing next to the client's ear on an IPOD.  The last time I had been to the house he had 50's music on the player, but on this day it was gospel music.  Imagine my surprise when, after only being there a few minutes, there was an Alan Jackson song with the lyrics "Jesus Calling."

I was SO struck by the synchronicity that I had to pause for a moment and acknowledge the coincidence.  The son told me the name of the song and I made a note of it.  He then said, Wouldn't it be funny if the phone rang right now?"

It didn't.  But that would have been freaky.

Mirror Synchronicity: Hong Kong Death Cafe

You may or may not have made the connection between this blogger and the Death Cafe movement. Yes, I'm the same Lizzy Miles. I was planning my trip to Hong Kong in June to present the Death Cafe concept at The International Conference on Grief and Bereavement.  Since a fellow Death Cafe host was going with me to present, I thought we could possibly host or co-host a Death Cafe in Hong Kong. I was at the Association for Death Education and Counseling conference in late April and I met Professor Andy Ho from Hong Kong University. I spoke with him briefly at the conference and mentioned that I thought it would be cool to have a Death Cafe in Hong Kong. After the conference I sent an email asking for help in finding a co-host. 

Extract from email I sent on May 4 to Professor Andy Ho: 
What would be needed from our local hosts: 
1. Finding a location (detailed specs below) 
2. Help to spread the word locally (co-design a flyer/send emails/ post on social media/ talk to media) 
3. Help with co-hosting event (3-6:30pm on 6/14) 

On May 8th, completely unrelated to the email I sent, I received an email through the Deathcafe.com website: 

Dear Lizzy,
A friend and I are planning to set up a death cafe in Hong Kong. I read the International Conference on Grief & Bereavement website and wish to know which date and time your sharing will be. 
Regards, Carmen 

I wrote Carmen back and did not mention dates but said that I was already in discussion with Hong Kong University folks regarding hosting an event. Again, I did not mention any dates. 

Carmen wrote back on May 9th and said: 
For the hosting of Death Cafe, I am planning to be at 3pm-5pm on 14th /15th June. 

Carmen picked the EXACT DATE and TIME I had suggested to Professor Ho. I got chills. I knew then that this would be a momentous occasion. From that point forward the coordination and organization by the Hong Kong hosts was incredible. As it ended up, I had the opportunity to attend the event as a guest and I was not even needed as a host.  During the event, I was so moved by the experience and the magnitude of it all. Attendees expressed deep gratitude for the creation of a safe place to have conversations about the taboo topic of death and dying.

The event was covered by the media that evening on television and the following day in the South China Morning Post.

Mirror Synchronicity: Superbowl Screwed?

I was sitting with my husband while he was watching the Superbowl. He started out rooting for Baltimore but began to root for San Francisco when the game became unbalanced. I was half watching and half reading on the IPad. I came across this article in Mental Floss about a new type of coffin that screws into the ground vertically.

Right as I was reading the article,the Ravens scored again right after halftime and my husband said,

"Well, they're screwed now."

That was synchronicity number one.

It continues. I turn the page on my Flipboard over to Fast Company and the first article I see is:

Wait, it gets better. Just a couple of minutes later I was reading this article

when my husband said,

"They've lost power."

For those of you who aren't watching the Superbowl, "they" meant the Superdome itself.  They lost half of its power for several minutes (could be longer, I felt compelled to come blog!)

Mirror Synchronicity: Love from Above

As Thanksgiving draws near, my mom and her side of the family have been on my mind a lot.  Every day.  After my parents divorced, my Thanksgiving was spent with my cousins, my mom, her sister Joyce, my aunt Alice, my great Uncle Tom and my great Aunt Stelma.  I've been feeling sad because besides my two cousins, all the other relatives have died.  I even sent my cousins an email this week to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.
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I still have my memories though.  My mom and her aunt Alice would argue in the kitchen how how to properly time everything.  I just laughed because it was funny to me to see my mom regress to acting like a 17 year old.  When my Aunt Joyce hosted them, everything looked like it came out of a Martha Stewart magazine.  She had the full fancy table and feast.  Even when my mom was in an Assisted Living, my husband and I would go eat there with the elders and the food was pretty good still!

Yesterday I was looking through a box of my spiral bound notebooks, trying to find a small one that would fit in my purse.  I am a bit of a notebook collector and I have several that are half-written.  As I picked up one notebook, a photograph of my mom and my aunt fell out.  On the back of the photograph it said it was taken at My aunt Stelma and Uncle Tom's 50th wedding anniversary.  It would be very uncharacteristic for me to use a photo as a bookmark, so it was quite a surprise.

I felt like it was a little wink from heaven that they knew I was thinking of them.  I also know that my mom would be mad at me for posting this version of her online because it's not the most flattering, but she also had a sense of humor so I'm sure she'll forgive me.

Happy Thanksgiving folks... don't be afraid to talk about the ones you're missing.  How can you have lost them if you know where they are?  We will all be reunited again someday.

Here's the picture:

Mirror Synchronicity: Body Disposition Court Cases in Pop Culture

(yes, I watch too much television, probably.)

There were two different television shows within a few weeks of each other that depicted court cases where two different parties were fighting over rights to the body of a loved one. 

Curious - does anyone know if this happens often? It's weird that two different writers would have the idea of dispute of body disposition. Was there something in real life that inspired these?

Franklin & Bash - Season 2, Episode 8 (on TNT) Last Dance
Peter and Jared help a widow (Anne Ramsay) retain the body of her esteemed late husband from being awkwardly immortalized as a dancer in a human body exhibit.

Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime) Season 4, Episode 9 : Ashes to Ashes

Airs Sunday, August 5, 2012: Jane is ready to put Owen behind her when she takes on a case with Grayson defending a woman who is addicted to eating her dead husband's ashes.

Mirror Synchronicity: Bigfoot

It all started when I was planning my 10th anniversary honeymoon. I was looking at places in New England and when I discovered that Portland Maine had a Bigfoot museum, I was hooked.

While you might think this is a weird way to spend a honeymoon, my husband and I both enjoy random campy museums and tourist spots. I might enjoy them more than he does, but he enjoys my happiness. We have been to the alien museum in Roswell, New Mexico. We've been through the Winchester Mystery House tour. He even tolerated my ghost-hunting at the Whaley House in San Diego.  So why not Bigfoot?

It was not long after I booked the trip that the Bigfoot synchronicities started happening. At first I ignored them because I thought I was just paying attention more, but then when I got to 4 different "Bigfoot" sightings then I decided there was definitely something synchronous going on.

The first reference didn't happen until 2 weeks after I booked my trip. I had been thinking about the trip, but at this point the Bigfoot reference was not a synchronicity to me. Here is the Bigfoot scene in the HBO series Newsroom.  This was a huge reference.


Then in a matter of a day, another show I watch had two characters in conversation about Bigfoot. I can't remember which show it was (either Suits or Franklin and Bash). Then I was flipping through the channels and came across a Bigfoot hunting show. Then the final synchronicity was when a former professor posted this cartoon on his Facebook page and it came through my news feed. This was the final synchronicity that made me laugh out loud.

Mirror Synchronicity: Penn State Sanctions

A post in the LA Times indicates that the last official game that counts for Penn State after the NCAA sanctions is one where Mike McQueary was quarterback.

McQueary was a key witness in the recent trial that led to sanctions against Penn State.

Mirror Synchronicity: Woe of the Road!

My friends Jenn and Kyle are editors of a book titled Woe of the Road: Tales to make you never want to leave your house.  The title of the book is rather self explanatory - the book is about embarrassing or woeful moments that happen while traveling.

Full disclosure - I have an article in the book.  Again, I think the title well summarizes the content:  The Impala, the Valet, and the Everlasting Fart. 

But I digress.

Woe of the Road is a great read, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in it.  It won Grand Prize for the Best Anthology in the Beach Book Festival.

The prize included cash and a trip for Jenn and Kyle to the awards ceremony in New York.

On the way to New York, to accept an award for the book on travel woes, Jenn and Kyle's bus caught on fire.

Truth is stranger than fiction.  As might be expected, this delay gave them a great anecdote for their acceptance speech.

Mirror Synchronicity: Worst Ways to Die

Those who don't believe in synchronicities will surely scoff at this one.  I have a history of being led to  books.  I have written about synchronicities more than once, here, here, and also a synchronicity story I wrote about in my book that I never posted.

I felt directed to Half Price Books, although I wasn't sure why.  There was no book I had in mind except for maybe something related to the Death Cafe.

I was just about to leave the store, figuring my hunch was wrong, when I turned around and found three copies of this book for only $3 each.

The reason I found it to be synchronous is because the Death Cafe was on my mind.  The art images that we printed on t-shirts to raise money for the Death Cafe event were all based on ideas of our worst fear of dying.  (Mine is crocodile, what's yours?)  Here are the images that we are putting on t-shirts:

I had never heard of this book before, but I thought they would be good to have on tables at the event as conversation starters.

Mirror Synchronicity: The Turkey Vulture

A few weeks ago, an animal unfortunately died in our garage. We thought we smelled something bad, but when the turkey vultures started hanging around our back deck, we knew for sure there must be a dead animal. My husband tore apart the garage, found the source of the smell, and relocated it to the woods.

Two weeks later, the smell is gone (at least to us) but the turkey vultures remain. There are two and I see them on the porch several times a day. If I think about it too much it makes me a little crazy. Is there something they know that we don't? Is it a sign that death is on the horizon? They really do feel quite ominous. (Not to mention they poop a lot on the deck and are annoying for that fact alone.)

Or is this a lighthearted synchronicity to acknowledge my work on the Death Cafe? Really the whole idea of the Death Cafe is to raise death awareness. How better to symbolically represent that than to have vultures standing around.

I took this picture of the turkey vulture today and then I got online to one of my social networks.  I had not yet posted anything about my new vulture friends, but one of my connections had linked to a blog that talked about crows and had a beautiful drawing of a turkey vulture. 

It remains to be seen whether there is more to this story regarding an actual death on the horizon.  Let's hope it is not anytime soon.

Mirror Synchronicity: Fix the Bed

My husband and I were in bed watching Modern Family when he made a comment that we needed to fix the slats under our mattress. 

Not five minutes later, the characters in the episode have the mattress off the bed and are fixing the bed.

Here is a funny clip from the episode related to the mattress.

Mirror Synchronicity: Frozen in Carbonite

This is one of those really odd synchronicities that made me scratch my head and wonder why.  A few days ago, I came across an article about med students who put together a fun little video about advanced directives.  They referenced Star Wars, which is not uncommon, but they titled the article:  How Not to Get Frozen in Carbonite Against Your Wishes and included this picture:

Then yesterday I was watching the television show Awake, and one of the cases was a man who had been killed and disposed of in concrete.  Not only did the image seem reminiscent of the Star Wars scene, one of the characters actually referenced Han Solo being frozen in carbonite.  Here is a pic from my television screen:

For those new to my blog posts, I do need to reiterate, that I don't necessarily ascribe a deeper meaning to every synchronicity, but I do attempt to document all that stand out to me.  This one, like I said, was rather random!