I almost always chalk so-called "signs" up to psychological pre-occupation. You see what you want to see. Mostly. And then there are times when it's just a little too coincidental.
Yesterday, for instance, I bought a plane ticket to Guatemala. Quite frankly, Guatemala was not my first choice for spring break. My partner and I had been thinking about Panama, but at the last minute, and rather rudely, I might add, he decided that I was not a good travel partner. A bunch of girlfriends were planning a trip to Guatemala, and I like them, so I decided to go along. I wasn't so psyched about Guatemala -- what is there to even do there?
Digressing for a moment, JD Salinger died this week. When I was younger, I won a writing award in high school, and Joyce Maynard was one of the speakers at the awards ceremony. When Joyce Maynard was 18, she had an affair with him, moving to Cornish, NH for some time. I read her autobiography when I was 20 or so, and I recalled this bit of info. So I wondered what she had to say about his passing on her blog, about two hours after buying my plane ticket.
Turns out she didn't have anything to say. She has just adopted two little girls from Ethiopia and hasn't had time for a press release. However, since I was on her site, I clicked around. And what did I find? Something I could barely recall ever knowing: she has a house in Guatemala and sometimes teaches writing workshops there. I'm not interested in such a workshop -- a writer I am no longer --, but this fact was accompanied by a great deal of copy about how wonderful and beautiful Guatemala is.
Is that a sign? I had already bought the ticket, so it wasn't a sign that I should go. But I'm going to take it as a sign that going is the right thing to do. It might be hocus pocus, but a little hocus pocus certainly never hurt anyone.
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