Experienced a series of odd coincidences today.
This morning I noticed a friend had "liked" a picture I had posted on Facebook. I hadn't spoken with him for a while so I texted him that we should get together to 'catch up' some time soon. He texted back 'I'll be over to see you within the hour". When he came in to my store, he told me the unfortunate news that his girlfriend had recently been diagnosed with cancer. She wasn't dealing with it well especially since her first doctor at the Cleveland Clinic was somewhat pessimistic as to her prognosis. I told him that my mother had always told me that stress causes cancer. She always said "don't be anxious over anything" because stress is what causes cancer. He agreed as to the basic principal and we talked about what we could do to help her reduce the stress in her life.
Shortly thereafter, the husband of a former classmate came in inquiring about the painting in the front window of my store. He said "[former classmate] really likes the painting in the window. How much is it? I said "I've always loved [former classmate]. If she wants it it's hers." He said 'no, we'll pay you a fair price, I'll have her come in to talk to you about it.' He added: "did you know she has cancer?" I said no! I didn't know! Yes, he said, she's been really stressed about it. She has uterine cancer and had to have her uterus removed. I expressed how sorry I was about that.
A little later my sister called. She's a Witness and is "semi-shunning" me. She called to tell me that her husband was diagnosed with cancer. He has two tumors. One on his kidney and another in another location. I asked if they were malignant. She said the doctor didn't know but they were going to treat them as if they are because if they do a biopsy, the tumor might metastasize when punctured and it would be too dangerous. She remarked how mom used to always say that stress is what caused cancer and [her husband] is always under stress regarding financial issues. I told her how sorry I was about the whole situation.
THEN my father called. He said "I want to tell you the rest of the story". I thought he was going to tell me about my sister's husband having cancer because he doesn't think we talk. But no, he told me that his cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. He's totally into alternative medicine and proceeded to tell me that if she would just take his [current multi-level marketing product] she'd be cured. "y'know doctors don't know anything about nutrition!"
It's not over yet.
This morning, my business partner called and told me to get to the gallery on time because he was going to be late. He had to go to the dentist. On his way to the dentist, he stopped by Sam's Club to get gas for the car. At a pump next to him he noticed a man frantically calling people because he locked his keys inside the car. My business partner proceeds to the dental appointment but decides to stop back to Sam's Club to pick up a few items before returning to the gallery. As he was carrying all the items back to the car, the wind was blowing hard and something fell down as he was loading the car. He put the car keys in the bag so he'd have a free hand to pick up the item that fell. Then, he put the bag in the car trunk and shut the door. With the keys in it. He called me to tell me how his day was ruined because he locked the keys in the car. Also he had just broken up with his partner and asked for the spare keys back (yesterday) and they were locked in the car too. How odd.
THEN
Yesterday, I was talking to my sister (the only one that's not a Witness) and she was talking about how she hates to read the newspaper because there is nothing but bad news. Also, she was tired of reading the same old stories over and over "why don't they just drop it already!" she said. She was browsing the paper as we talked and I asked her: "Why do you read the paper? I never look at it." She told me that she just likes to look at it to see if any of her customers had passed away. As we talked she noticed that the elder that was presiding on the judicial committee of my disfellowshipping had passed away. She said "Oh, here is some good news! [elder] died!" "Don't you feel good about that?" I said "no, not really" I really have no hard feelings. Then today, I had to leave the gallery to pick up some supplies from a nearby store. It was close enough that I could walk. Half way there, I realized I had forgotten my wallet so I went back to the gallery to get it. On my way back, I saw someone I had instantly recognized even from behind. The wife of the elder that had just passed away. I had only seen her twice before in the last 20 years. I called out her first name but she didn't hear me at first. I ran up behind her and called her name again and she turned around and said "Oh.... Paul" I said "I'm so sorry for your loss" I just heard about [elder's] death. "I'm so sorry". We proceeded to have a nice conversation for about 10 minutes before she had to excuse herself so as not to be late to her appointment. We talked about the fun we used to have together. I said "We used to have a lot of fun in field service didn't we!" She agreed and intimated that perhaps we hadn't met by accident just now. She gave me a big hug before we parted. It really felt good because when I saw her at my mother's funeral in April 2014, she absolutely shunned me and refused to look at me.
Anyway, it was an unusual day for me and I didn't know with whom else to share...
[edited to add] I almost forgot, when I was talking to the elders wife, she said "did you see the brochure?" I at first thought she was referring to the "Return to Jehovah" brochure so I hesitated but then she said "the brochure about [her husband that had just passed away]. I said no so we walked together to her car and she handed me a small brochure regarding her husband [a prominent local elder]. It was a very nice tribute to a truly humble and kind man. I remarked how nicely designed the brochure was and asked who designed it. She laughed a little and said it was [someone I introduced to the religion]. The brochure was designed by my former classmate from high school. My only friend then. She was not a Witness. We went off to art school together. She was formerly a devout Catholic. I wasn't baptized yet and always felt extremely guilty about attending college. We continually talked about spiritual issues and eventually she converted to become a Witness. Meanwhile, I left art school, got baptized and later disfellowshipped and we haven't talked in 20 years. Such an odd day and there is still an hour and forty five minutes to go.
