When my brother Mike moved away from Madison, Connecticut to attend Northeastern in Boston, his intention was always to return to Madison.

Why did he choose Northeastern?
Was he REALLY responsible for choosing that school over another one?
Or was it a plan laid out long before he knew?

He met Kali at Northeastern.  They cultivated a friendship that over the course of time developed into something deeper.  When someone asks me now why Mike went to Northeastern, I say it was because he was SUPPOSED to go there.  He didn’t choose the school.  It was chosen for him.  Sometimes I get crazy looks when I reveal my thought process, when I explain what I believe.  But as with this example, when I show all the connections sometimes those same crazy looks morph into understanding.

Why did Mike go to Northeastern?
He went because that’s where Kali went

Why did my family move to Madison?
We moved here so that I could live in the town I work in.  To take it one step further, why did Mom get together with my Dad?
The short answer is:
She did so so, so I’d have the condo I now have.  Okay.  I see you shaking your heads and saying WHAT?

Well, see?  This condo belonged to my Dad’s Aunt and when she passed I was still living in my parent’s house.  It was a natural progression that since I was working in Madison, and I wasn’t planning on leaving, that the condo should be passed down to me. That’s what happened.

So, I see?  I see connections!

Back to Mike and Kali and the reason for today’s column:
I knew from early on that it was always Mike’s intention to return to Madison, so in February of this year when he announced his plan to move back this summer I wasn’t totally surprised, but what did surprise me was the suddenness of the talk.  He and Kali made the decision and there would be no looking back.  Some may say:
Why now?  Why not wait another couple of years?  There was no pressing need to come back.  After all they both lived within twenty minutes of work.  Don’t worry!  Bear with me.  Follow the thread and you’ll see.

They talked it over with our Mom and it was decided that they would move in with her at the end of May until they found a house in Madison.  That would throw my Mom’s life off kilter for some time.

My Mom being the way she is insisted it would be at least a year before they found a place.  From the moment discussion began, I was the lone dissenter.  I said they’d be out by September.  For those keeping track, that’s four months.  My Mom constantly said:
C’mon, Chris!  That’s four months.  How do you think they’re gonna find a place in that short period?

The same way I KNEW I’d be hired at my library in 1992 when I went back to school for library science and you asked what I was going to do with a Library Science degree.  The same way I knew Mike and Kali’s baby would be a girl.  My pipeline is completely unobstructed.

I see connections!

Mike and Kali looked at houses and each time they found one they liked someone would come in and make a stronger offer.  This happened EVERY time they put in an offer.  My advice was not to worry.  That just means something better is coming along.  There is a plan.  Just follow where life is bringing you.  I completely understand when my friends and family want to slap me upside the head (using a quote from my BEST friend here.)

I think Kali is starting to see the connections though too.  Because what happened about a week ago opened her eyes even further.  While Mike was working, she went to look at a couple of houses.

The first house was about half a mile from Mom’s.  Didn’t turn her on.
When Kali went to the second house everything fell into place.  The last piece to the puzzle connected and she saw the whole picture.

Shortly after she left, maybe the next day.  I don’t recall now, she called me.

Are you sitting down?  If not might be a good thing to do so.

This is what she said:
Turns out the house Kali looked at belonged to one of Mike’s best friends growing up.
Connection!

Mike and I know the family who is selling the house now.
Connection!

The realtor selling the house?  Well Mike went to school with his daughter.
Connection!

There are children Rylee’s age all up and down the road.
The house is on a culdesac.  Perfect for Rylee as he grows up as she’ll be able to ride her bike.
There is handmade swing set in the back yard

What did I say each time the plan fell through?
That something better would come along?

And what else did I say?
That Mike and Kali and Rylee would be out of my Mom’s house by September?

Looks like my pipeline is indeed rushing like white water rapids.

When I sit here and write columns such as this one I feel completely at ease, because:
I see connections.

It all makes sense to me that our lives are mapped out for us.  We have nothing to fear.  Everything is working just as it should.  It’s like reading fiction.  We don’t know what’s gonna happen, but as long as we follow the story, follow the map, follow the road, our lives will unfurl just as they should.  I recall something I read once and I THINK I may have mentioned it here:
That we can drive in the pitch dark from coast to coast.  We only have to see twenty feet in front of us.  Our car’s headlights will light the way.  We simply have to trust.

Do you trust your headlights?
Do you trust your pipeline?
Do you trust the divine?

And now for the big question:
Do you see connections?

Oh MY GOD!
As I’m JUST finishing this column, John Hiatt’s song:
Uncommon Connection
just played on my iTunes shuffle.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.

Chris

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