The incidence of coincidence and synchronicity has been on the increase of late: strange times indeed. For example, I recently decided to revisit an old hobby but with a new twist. I played a mediocre clarinet when I was a boy: third-chair at the very best. I have a profound love of music… all music… and this should have been expressed in that endeavor. However, I found the instrument so limiting. One voice and a significant need for accompaniment in most cases made it ill-suited to my personality.

Enter the 21st century and the refinement of the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument). The Akai 4000s is the answer. With this I’ll have over 200 voices to choose from and virtually limitless possibilities with the aid of computers. The only reason I’m mentioning this is that part of the reason I’m doing it is to keep a promise I made to my dad about 30 years ago. He’s 81 now and I’m running out of time to play the song “Send in the Clowns.”

I had friends and family over on Sunday to celebrate the 4th of July. I treated this past 4-day weekend as a celebration of my own freedom and in preparation for the hard work ahead. Near the tail-end of the evening I showed my father the instrument on-line and went through many of the sounds it can play. I didn’t mention my intentions for his gift.

As the evening cooled during a rather potent thunderstorm, we all sat in my living room just chatting. We had been listening to Into the Music all day, but I felt obliged to accede to my father’s request of different music by putting on KEZW as we sat and talked.

Thirty minutes later a few notes rang out of the stereo and I immediately knew what song it was. It took dad a little longer to pick up on the tune, but we both smiled as “Send in the Clowns” slid over the room. Synchronicity? Coincidence? Providence? I certainly have my opinion.

So I told you that story to tell you another. I mentioned last week that I had purchased four best-sellers in different genres to get a feel for the styles being used these days in literature. I had asked the assistance of one of their clerks to find recently printed best-sellers. I won’t dwell on the speculative or fantasy fiction, but for the contemporary fiction he directed me to “The Road” and “Invisible.”

As it turns out, “Invisible” details events in the life of a young and old eccentric who decided to become an author in the middle of his life. Synchronicity? Coincidence? Providence? Again, I certainly have my opinion.

There are other examples, but these are indicative enough for my purposes. The point here is that meaning is everywhere if you put your ear to the ground to listen for it. Sometimes it’s thunderous and sometimes it’s barely a whisper. Listen for it. It can guide you like nothing else. It’s a river, truth be told, but more on that later.