Synchronicities tend to occur frequently during major transitions in our lives – a move, a marriage or divorce, the birth of a child, a career change, and death, the biggest transition of all. This next story comes from Joanna. We posted a similar synchronicity in early January, so I now wonder how many stories like this there may be.
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I don’t know that the following is “synchronicity”, but it involves Andy, a relative I’ve featured on my blog. . Out of respect for his widow Dotty, a very dear friend and also a follower of my blog, I can’t post it there, even as an update.
Dotty is an absolute saint, truly, and twelve years Andy’s junior with two children by an abusive first husband that she’d finally managed to divorce before they met. Andy and first wife Kate, a total whack job, also had two children – a son and a daughter, but were already separated when he met Dotty. Naturally, Andy’s kids stayed with their mother after the divorce and were thoroughly brainwashed by her that Dotty was to blame. They wouldn’t even acknowledge Dotty’s presence when they visited Andy.
And so it went for the next 35 years.
Old age set in and Andy’s deteriorating health required him to go to a nursing home. Dotty visited him there every day, all day, only going home for an hour or two between meals, and after tucking him in around 7:30. She never missed a day, even when the weather was bad. She truly fulfilled the marriage vow ‘in sickness and in health’. She also sat in on every meeting with Andy’s doctors and took detailed notes.
First wife Kate had remarried, and for several years she and the second husband had been in a nursing home 100 miles away, both in “perfect” health except for advanced Alzheimer’s.
Andy and Kate’s son, whom we’ll call George (or perhaps Super Jerk) was the CEO of his own company in a city 30 miles beyond where Kate was. He was a total control freak, used to people doing whatever he ordered. Once amonth or so he’d make the trek to see Andy for a couple of hours, always during Dotty’s breaks. At one time or another, he vowed to fire Andy’s doctors, which he didn’t have the authority to do. He also ordered Dotty to sell her and Andy’s house “right now” and move him to the same nursing home Kate was in.
Dotty, of course, did none of these things. She told George very firmly that she wouldn’t. She got her and Andy’s affairs in order. Together, they picked out a burial plot and a stone, made their funeral wishes known, and verified that their wills and her power of attorney were airtight.
Andy was 86 when he entered the home, and doctors were certain he wouldn’t last three months, six at the most. That was 15 months ago. We were all sure he wouldn’t make it to 87 let alone 88 (last month), and came to believe he simply willed himself to live despite more than a dozen health issues, any two of which would have killed a “normal” man.
But there’s another possibility – that he secretly vowed to outlive the hated ex-wife who’d poisoned their children against his beloved Dotty.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning a week ago, 88-yr-old Kate died in her sleep. It was a total surprise to everyone because physically, she was “healthy as a horse”. The second surprise was she and her second husband had made NO funeral or burial arrangements whatsoever. The son and wife spent the next 3 days scurrying around making arrangements. On Friday evening, they were on the way to the viewing when
Dotty called to say Andy had died a few hours earlier.
Right after Kate’s funeral, George, the son, was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer, but got out in time to attend Andy’s viewing Monday evening. The third surprise was on arriving at the funeral home, he hugged Dotty thy like a long-lost friend and apologized profusely for treating her so badly for 30-some years.
What are the “chances” that a man and woman who hated each other, divorced 35+years years ago and had had no contact in that time, would die 3 days apart? Is this “synchronicity” or a very effective karmic lesson delivered on the son by the Universe?
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These kinds of stories remind me of a Mobius strip, thus the image by M.C. Escher.
Jama – another synchronistic layer! This one is amazing.
My brain was mushy from staring at newspaper microfilm most of yesterday, so I nearly forgot to add another synchronicity in the previous comment.
Dotty uses return address labels that come 600 on a roll. About a month before Andy died she noticed the current roll was almost gone and instead of a new roll that said "Andy & Dotty", she put (only) "Dotty" on the re-order form.
On the Monday after Andy died she was getting ready to mail a letter. There was only one label left on the old roll, and being the last one, it was rather mangled and therefore unusable.
Instead, she had to use a label from the new "only Dotty" roll, and couldn't help but marvel at how accurately the Universe had timed the end of the "Andy & Dotty" labels.
I should clarify a karmic lesson as *punishment* wasn't how it was meant. More a thump on the head from the Above, or a slap as Nancy said, to point George toward being a better human being for the remainder of this life.
And I too love the Mobius strip. Nice touch. Thanks.
Yes, that there is a higher order to things, that far surpasses our idea of what Karma 'should' follow.
I believe that our own souls (higher selves) will sort it out for us,whether here on the Earth Plane or when we get to the other side.
George's 'Higher Self' seemed to be doing a good job. 🙂
I'm with you, new soul, about karma. I also thought it was interesting that the son ended up in the hospital. Good point, Nancy.
You mentioned that the son was hospitalized after his mother's death. Could he have experienced what it felt like to be hospitalized, the lack of control one has when hospitalized, and the comfort experienced when someone is standing vigil as Dotty had done for his father? We sometimes get slapped when we are not understanding the "lesson."
My heart goes out to George. Sure he may have acted like a jerk, but to lose both parents in such a short period of time is a grief experience I would not wish on anyone. I think it's wonderful that George recognized on his own that he had treated Dotty badly and was able to apologize. I interpreted the author to be saying that the Karmic lesson was some sort of punishment and I would like to think Karma doesn't work quite like that. That's my hope anyways.
Fascinating story – and the Mobius strip was inspirational.