A Conversation with The Universe

Serendipity

noun

def; an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

good fortune; luck.

Have you ever had that feeling that something in the universe is guiding you?

That perhaps it’s the energy of all things, the ebb and flow of life forces; bending, melding, propelling you forward? Or maybe you are one whom believes it is simply God’s design; the way our lives play-out, the events that unfold before us.

Either way, when a “Holy shit! I can’t believe that just happened” moment is encountered upon, especially in a good way…I always liked to think that it is serendipitous.

This journey I am undertaking has been a long time coming, and seemingly would never happen. At least, not until forces combined to help propel me to make it happen.

I still had doubts. I still second guessed. I still AM second guessing. Well, I was anyway, right up until the time I left Austin, actually LEFT. See, I thought once I made the decision to undertake this adventure, that things would unfold easily. Buy Airstream. Buy new Jeep. Sell everything. Get dog his shots. Say goodbyes. Hook up. Get the hell outta town. Live the dream.

Me: Wow, things are really unfolding nicely for me. This is going to be awesome.

Universe: Really? Is that so?

Me: Yes. Yes, it is. You brought me the perfect Airstream! You opened the door! It’s going to beautiful on the other side!

Universe: Yeah well, that was just the door to the hallway. There’s another door at the end.

Me: OK?

Universe: What I want you to do, Scott, is to make sure you really want to undertake this journey. So, I gave you a little runway, or hallway if you prefer for your own analogous description. But as you go down this hallway, seemingly an easy thing to navigate, I’m going to fuck with you a little bit, a little bit more anyway, and I’m going to do this because you need to be absolutely committed to this journey. 100%. You can’t start this project like you have so many others; great ideas that you get excited about, dive into, and then abandon them. You can’t reach your goals and realize your dreams if you half-ass the effort required to achieve them. You know this is your MO, right? You do that a lot.

Me: Yes, I know. I hate that about myself.

Universe: I know you do. And that’s why I kept pushing you.

Me: Are you doing that now?

Universe: Let’s just say that all the little mishaps you’ve encountered lately weren’t by happenstance.

Me: So that was you that made me lose my key to the bike lock the other day when I was breaking camp at Pecan Grove RV Park in Austin? And I spent the next 3 hours looking for it, then going back to Metcalfe to borrow some bolt cutters and coming back to Pecan Grove and then realizing that Master Lock did a really fucking good job with designing that bike lock and the bolt cutters wouldn’t work so I had to drive to Onion Creek to meet my dad at his friend’s house to rummage through a garage that looked like an American Pickers dream show, to find a high speed electric cut-off tool, without a blade mind you, but hey dad happened to have a blade in his work truck (weird) so I managed to piecemeal the thing the together and was able to just barely cut-off the lock before the blade broke, and was lucky the shrapnel didn’t take out an eye (no Mom, I didn’t wear eye protection) and then I was finally able to mount the bike on the back of the Airstream. That was you?

Universe: Yep.

Me: Well that sucked balls. Also, can I refer to you as just “Uni”? Typing your full name out every time is very laborious.

Uni: I don’t think our relationship is at that stage yet.

Me: Is it also why, after you made me spend 3 hours on the Bike Lock Project from Hell you just happened to let me FIND THE KEY on the floor board of my Jeep, under the dog blanket? And NEXT TO the bolt cutters and the high speed electric cut-off tool I had placed on the floorboard before and after use? The one place I never looked, because hey, it’s my dog’s blanket, why would a bike lock key be hiding under my dog’s blanket?

Universe: That was a good one. Karma and I had lots of laughs over that one.

Me: It was pretty funny I guess, in hind-site. I actually did laugh out loud.

Universe: What was your take-away from that experience, do you think?

Me: Well, I will definitely put my keys in the same spot after each use from now on.

Universe: Not was I was referring to.

Me: I was mad. I was frustrated. I was thinking about how I have been told time and time again that maybe YOU were saying I shouldn’t go on this journey. That I should stay home. Where it’s safe. I was second guessing. That not only was it the Bike Lock Project from Hell situation, but that it was also Covid-19, travel restrictions everywhere, it was the loss of my largest client and 80% of my income, it was the girl I’ve been chasing for 4 ½ years finally starting to come around the way I had always hoped she would, it was the rock chip in the windshield of my new Jeep, the broken window in my Airstream, the lost driver’s license, the speeding ticket (crap I still need to deal with that), the after-market hitch I had to buy because the Jeep Hitch Making Factory was shut down, it was just the numerous delays delays delays in trying to get out of town and get on this journey! It was all of those things and more. But I still kept moving forward. I still kept pursuing my dream. I pushed through.

Universe: Atta boy.

Me: smiling

Uni: And that was just the hallway. I imagine you are not so naive as to think that on the other side of the door I’m going to just let up, are you?

Me: No. But I made it to the door and opened it, didn’t I? I said proudly, like a child waiting for affirmation from his father after scoring four touchdowns in a football game.

Universe: You did. And what did you find? Oh, and also, stop that “Uni” shit, I saw what you did there.

Me: I thought maybe we had a bonding moment, a breakthrough to the next level?

Universe: Nope. It was a good relationship building moment, true. But we are just in beginning phases of discovering our closeness to one another. Baby steps, Scott.

Me: OK.

Universe: We’ve talked about some of the trials and tribulations of your journey thus far, but what of the beauty you have witnessed? Have you paid attention to those moments?

Me: Oh yes! I wanted to thank you for that by the way. You did open up a very hard to procure spot for me at Pecan Grove RV Park, so that I could “practice” RV park life, while still being close to my town, friends and resources while enjoying one of the of the most iconic RV Parks in the country. That was a treat! You also provided me some wonderful moments with family and friends, the help I received with purging my unnecessary belongings, the help with shopping for items needed for this journey, the help with packing for my trip! All of encouraging words. I am very lucky to have had all of that!

Universe: Yes, you are.

Me: I have also encountered some really amazing things along the way of this first leg of my adventure. But you already know this, don’t you?

Universe: I do. But I would like to hear what you have to say about it.

Me: Well, for starters, my friend John suggested I pick out a song that might reflect how I felt as I was leaving town, something he said that “would bring back fond memories when I heard the song in the future.” So, I did that, it took a little effort, I mean, choosing your Theme Song can be daunting!

Is it too pretentious? Too sad? How will it be interpreted by others?

Universe: I can see how that could be a challenging project to undertake.

Me: It was. But not like, climbing Mount Everest challenging or raising a child challenging, but mentally it was taxing for sure. OK. That might be a stretch, I had a few songs in mind that I always thought sort of told some of my story, or feelings about myself. So, I just had to listened to them and fine-tune the energy I felt from each. I think I found the right one.

Universe: Which ones were in consideration?

Me: Simple Man by Lynard Skynard.

Me: Wayward Son by Kansas

Me: Can’t You See by The Marshall Tucker Band

Me: Guess Who’s Knocking by Ryan Bingham

Me: South Side of Heaven also by Ryan Bingham

Me: The Lucky One by Allison Krauss & Union Station

Me: Sins of The Father by Waylon Payne

Universe: Very solid play list.

Me: Thanks.

Universe: What did you go with?

Me: You know.

Universe: I do. I figured I would ask so that anyone interested and still reading this far might have some sort of payoff.

Me: Well, let’s see if they can figure it out.

Universe: OK, Scott. So, would you like to tell what happened after you left Austin with your theme song playing?

Me: Yes. It was pretty amazing.

Me: So, Jack and I are cruising Northbound up 35, and Jack needs to get some water and stretch his legs and do his dog thing. He’s keeps nudging at me when he needs a break. So we see a rest stop ahead somewhere in between Belton and Hillsboro, I don’t recall if it was after Waco or not, but anyway, we pull off and get out and Jack goes and does his thing (I don’t use a leash if I can help it, he needs some freedom too, so while Jack is off doing his thing (that is sort of a dicey way of phrasing it..get it, while Jack is off..”

Universe: Yes. You think you are very clever, I know.

Me: So, I wander over to this windmill display and check it out, and I’m thinking what in the hell is a display about a windmill doing here in the middle of nowhere? And I start reading the monument plaque and holy fucking shit…if it doesn’t reference Don motherfucking Quixote!

Universe: STFU.

Me: Seriously. Here I am, starting this journey. A journey I anointed with the Theme Title:

My Quixotic Life, and here, at the first stop I make, is a reference to the very character I named my journey after! Mind = Blown.

Universe: That is pretty cool. How did that make you feel?

Me: I got goosebumps. I shivered and it was like, 114 degrees out. I looked at Jack, and he looked back and wagged his tail and smiled as if to say: “See dad, I nudged you to get off here just for this moment!” and then “Do I get a treat?” tail wag…

Me: Wait! That’s not all! (if you don’t picture Bob Barker here we maybe can’t be friends)

Universe: Continue.

Me: So, Jack and I drive on and I am pretty much in the spirit world at this point, and it’s not just the Titos & Iced tea coupled with the Adderall, it’s the pure Magic of the Moment I witnessed. The very next evening, after visiting a good friend in Dallas and eating at my favorite Dallas eatery; Javier’s, I set up camp in North Dallas at a standard RV Park, and settle in with some homemade leftover spaghetti (thank you Chera!) and by the way, adding cinnamon to the sauce…oh man oh man., so I decide to watch a movie and the first thing to pop up on Netflix is this new Charlize Theron flick, The Old Guard. I watch about 30 seconds of the trailer and decide to watch it (good movie by the way) and in the Very First Scene they reference…

wait for it…

Don motherfuckin’ Quixote.

Yep.

I just sat there mouth agape, like…holy fucking shit man.

Universe: sounds very…

Me: Serendipitous?

Universe: Exactly what I was going to say.

Me: Thank you.

Universe: You’re welcome.