Song of the Seashell – whorl 4

Sometimes chance encounters and random events change our lives in unforeseen ways. I often feel like an actor without a script. The twists and turns my life takes sometime feel like they’ve been choreographed, ahead of time, by an invisible playwright. For instance:

Have you ever been thinking about a choice, let’s say to stay put or move on to a new place? Suddenly you notice the licence plate on a random car in front of you, at a stop light. It is from ‘that place’ you’ve been dreaming about. Is that an accident or a coincident? I guess the answer depends on what you’ve discovered about the nature of the Universe.

Michael met Dana many years ago in a large city out west. She just happened to be living in the same boarding house he rented a room in, for work related reasons. They slowly got to know one another during the nine months he lived there. Although she was considerably younger than him, they found much in common.

They both liked to play the piano, explore the city/country, cook, drink good coffee, laugh and they had mutual friends. Many of the twelve or so boarders in the house developed friendships and would do things together. They respected each other’s space and privacy and generally found great pleasure living together, like brothers and sisters. Well almost.

Michael fell in love with Dana. She didn’t feel the same about him however. He moved to the east coast, for personal reasons, and they lost touch for many years. But he did write down his feelings for her and he mailed her a few letters soon after departing. He felt it best to act mature and forget her, reasoning that it wasn’t meant to be, despite what his heart whispered to him during quiet moments.

He worked and lived with his sister, niece and nephew in a small Western Pennsylvania town on the Ohio River named Sewickley. This is where Dana found Michael and this is where another event began to unfold that was to change his life forever.