Intersections of Fate

I enjoy the gentle interactions (not collisions) of the people at the Matchbox bar.

There are intersections at which worlds collide. I'm thinking this morning of the history of impact craters on Earth, thinking about the big ole asteroid that, when it crashed landed on terra firma, kicked up enough dust to kill almost every living species including (most famously) the dinosaurs.

On a more personal level, I remember the day (February 1, 1979) when that Southern Pacific freight train crashed into the Datsum B210 I was driving at the time. That collision changed my whole life - eventually for the better, should say.

On September 6, 2001, I was on my way to a coffee meeting with someone I had once upon a time considered one of my best friends. She and my partner fell in love, my partner dumped me, and the two of them moved in together - all within the space of about three months. Though in slo-mo, that sequence of events still feels like a terrible crash, not literally but definitely in terms of destiny. Ouch! Though this event, too, lead to a happier life. Go figure.

On 9/6/01, I was determined to lift my chin, put my shoulders back, stand tall and look my ex-almost-best friend right in the eye, to acknowledge what had happened, perhaps. I wanted her to see that I was fine, just FINE, even though I'd lost not only my partner of five years, but one of my best friends. For heaven's sake. Que es mas macho?

Just as I entered the intersection at thirteenth and U streets, I heard the siren. I must have a hell of a survival instinct because although I didn't see anything, somehow my body knew to press down hard on the gas (rather than slam on the brakes). Sure enough, the fire truck, running a red light on its way to some emergency or another, would have crashed right into the the driver's side of my car, had I not suddenly speeded up.

As it was, the fire truck clipped the very back of my car, knocking out a tail light but otherwise causing no damage. The overarching effect of that collision was beneficent. It stopped me from making that coffee meeting. (We had to wait around for the fire chief to come check out what had happened. While we waited, I called the cafe, cancelled the meeting.) Five days later was September 11, 2001, after which everything changed, hence the idea of a sit-down between she and I was scrapped, permanently. Thank God.

Sometimes engaging with one's fate includes these collisions. In the case of the fire truck and the coffee meeting, one minor crash helped derail what would no doubt have been a very unpleasant (and I'm guessing non-productive) encounter.

I think the Sufi acupuncturist is correct when he says that we experience angelic interventions more often than we can begin to imagine. Thank you, lovely angels, for saving me from my habit of tilting at experiences that would not be good for me. Thank you so much!

This morning I'm thinking of the near misses, the almost collisions that occur perhaps in alternate universes, but not right here in consensual reality. I wonder how many near misses have been a part of my own destiny. Since the collisions never actually took place, how would I ever know how many, or in what ways, they might have changed my life?

You know there are asteroids out there right now, passing very close to planet Earth, yet not crashing here. Perhaps the angels deflect them for the greater good, ya think?


Summer has collided with Fall. Fall is "winning." Oh yeah.