Thursday, May 1, 2008

Synchronicity of the Month

Earlier this year, on the way to the kids’ school, we drove by a sign on someone’s lawn. It asked, “Would you like to host a Japanese Exchange Student?” and then displayed the spring months the student would be staying with the host. The sign stayed up for quite some time. It really struck me, actually intrigued me, as I had never considered the possibility of our family hosting a foreign student, until I saw the sign. Over the weeks, I kept experiencing synchronicities regarding Japanese people or the country of Japan.

One day, my son came home from school with some exciting news. His teacher asked him, along with several other students, to be a student host of a Japanese exchange student. Scott really liked the idea and when he discussed it with his sister and I, we grew quite excited about the opportunity as well. There were only six students, and hosts would be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. When I picked the kids up from school one day, Scott said that we didn’t make the cut in time, but we were first on the waiting list. I told him that signs were showing me that we would indeed be hosts, that for some reason or reasons, we are all meant to experience this. He said that he, too, was receiving signs and was confident, as well.

You see, on the drive over to pick the kids up that day, I drove by that house with the sign requesting exchange student hosts and just a couple doors down, a Japanese man and lady got out of their car. Mind you, the demographics of where we live in Colorado is mostly Caucasian—unfortunately it’s not very culturally diverse—and I was suddenly finding myself in places where I’d see Japanese people quite frequently.

Well let me take you to the present time. I’m sitting here writing this entry on my laptop, sitting next to our Japanese Exchange Student while he watches the movie Spirited Away in Japanese with English subtitles (now that’s an interesting switch). Yes, this was destined, fully meant to be, as we trusted the signs that unfolded into this fabulous experience. We are enjoying every minute of hosting this gracious, kind young man who appreciates every single thing from each food on his plate to everywhere we take him. Such a joy! I’m thrilled we listened to the signs.

Just when I decided that May’s “Synchronicity of the Month” would cover this story, I looked out my office window and an Asian man was walking on our sidewalk. Love the validation!

Afterword: Another synchronicity happened while our exchange student was here, which I must share. After dinner, I asked our student what his favorite flavor of ice cream was and then went to the store to pick some up. On the way back, I saw two EMS trucks and a fire truck coming from the opposite direction, driving right past the street where I turn on to go to our subdivision. Their sirens weren’t on, but I thought it strange to see three of these type vehicles together when there was no apparent emergency. That was just one of the emergency type signs I was having that day (we spent all day on a field trip in the mountains with all the exchange students and discussion of emergency situations came up a few different times). I felt as if something was up, but my intuition told me that we would all be fine.

After we had our ice cream, we decided to finish watching Spirited Away. We were all so relaxed after a long day in the mountains, and then suddenly, out of the blue, our carbon monoxide/gas alarm went off, right where we were sitting. After opening the windows and calling the gas company to dispatch a technician to check out our house, we got in the car. It would be up to a two-hour wait before the gas company would arrive and it would have been so late for the kids before we would get back into our home. So we drove to the fire station and although at first I didn’t see anyone inside, just when I got back to the car, a fire truck drove in, with several firemen in it, and they ended up following us right to our house and checked everything out. Then EMS came and checked us out. Then the police came. Of course, everything was fine. It was merely a faulty alarm. A lot of drama for a “little” incident. But hey, it had to be checked out.

We tried our best to explain to our guest what was going on, but he just took it all in stride and apparently laughed along with my kids when they saw me outside at the fire station waving down this huge fire truck. So as it turned out, the signs were previewing an emergency situation that turned out to be nothing at all. My intuition told me that whatever was about to present itself, we would be fine, and we were!