on serendipity

and synchronicity

Hi! Has it been forever? Welcome to anyone who is new around here! Thank you so much for your subscription. It means a lot to me.

The more time I spend offline, the more I connect to a real life algorithm. Think about your brain functioning as your own piece of software, where your internet is internal. You’re not connected to a screen, scrolling — rather to small moments in a state of reality, flowing. You are flowing along with:

s e r e n d i p i t y [the quality through awareness of a happy, fortunate, or valuable occurrence. finding something good by chance.]

s y n c h r o n i c i t y [divine right order, meaningful coincidences, the universe at play.]

you’re noticing the unfolding of events and their range. tiny and microscopic with meaning simple and carrying on — to perhaps large and layered with much to dwell upon; your serendipity.

noticing signs from the universe, listening to your intuition, uncovering meaning in events; your synchronicity.

sometimes all you have to do is look.

other times all you have to do is ask.

the more connection you establish, the more rewards you reap.

Kaitlyn Ramsay

called out noticing the serendipitous moments of your life in an early post of hers, and I’ve been doing it ever since. You think you’ll remember —but there’s a lot of life happening. If you want to keep track, write them down.

from the notes app on my phone:

I ordered ski base layer pants from Kari Traa during an online sale. I’m partial to a matching top + bottom sets but the matching top was sold out. The pattern was distinctly floral. On 2.12.24 I serendipitously found the matching top in person about a month later! The shirt was hidden in a back corner nook — under a basement staircase — nestled into a sale rack teeming with garments, that I casually decided to browse just before I walked back upstairs. It was the only shirt in this distinct floral pattern and it was a medium, my perfect size in this brand.

This was totally unexpected. Yes, I believe the tug of the universe quickly and quietly pulled me over to that clothing rack among many, inside the one shop in Woodstock, VT I strolled into that day.

Kari Traa top! party on

2.24.24 + 2.25.24: Earth + Saturn up in the algorithm.

My son Camden’s 5th bday party was Solar System themed. He requested his favorite planets: Earth, Jupiter + Saturn on his cake! Out house is decked out in planets, all week we’ve been decorating together. Meanwhile, my birthday getaway to Maine was that weekend (prior to his 5th festivities). My husband and I had a dinner at a restaurant named Earth. Saturn by SZA had just been released (on 2.22.24) and we heard it a few times on our drive. I'll be better on Saturn // None of this matters // Dreaming of Saturn, oh.

On Camden’s first solo bike pedal he was wearing his tee shirt with an astronaut who is literally biking around the rings of Saturn. He called this one out!

If you are noticing nothing particularly earth shattering here, that’s fair! At first it is simply about noticing patterns and what is showing up in your life, sometimes in little clusters.

Summer 2024. I started listening to Becoming on audio book. In Chapter 2 Michelle is recalling a spelling bee of sorts reading aloud color cards in class. she was proud she could read them all until she got to…wh wh

W H I T E. The irony, for Michelle. She had to learn this word and pass the spelling ritual again the next day. This part in the story happened right as I was parsing out my white laundry and throwing it in the washer. Hmmm. It made me smile. Meanwhile, she’s recalling her childhood growing up on the south side of Chicago in the 1960’s + 70’s. Chicago….I was also reading The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, a phenomenal non-fiction book taking place in Chicago in 1893. Meanwhile times two, we picked up watching S3 of The Bear (brief hiatus because Olympics) and okay then. The real life algorithm is coming up Chicago. Unplanned, random, I almost didn’t even link all three happening at the same time. I like this much better than my Instagram adds!!

I visited chi-town in 2012. I’d love to get back there!

what else because there’s so much more

📞I was not pleased about a phone conversation I had. I was sitting outside a restaurant in downtown Andover and I looked up at the street to see a license plate that said “UNREAL”. I shook my head as I exhaled a puff of laughter.

4.2.24. Demoing Black Crows which is a ski brand from Chamonix, France. I’m excited, and I’m thinking about being discerning as I back out of my driveway for the slopes. In that moment, the song Happy comes on the local VT radio. Ok universe, giving me what you’ve got. A huge smile immediately broke out on my face because of a memory from February 2014: The song Happy playing in Chamonix.

Happy by Pharrell Williams was THE song of that trip. Coming back from the bars up the road to Les Nantes and belting it out loud with the group of party skiers is a fond and distinct memory, despite 10 years since that trip! This is 100% a sign to have a great day on those skis. I did! (Yes, I got them, they were a gift from my husband.)

4.4.24. In a separate ski event, on Dino Farm: (a show my kids were into for a brief second) one of the characters exclaims “there’s a winter storm coming our way we need to get ready!” This is in the middle of an April 4th snowstorm that’s dumping massive snow amounts. 🤙🏼

6.20.24. We are watching Acapulco (heads up this show is great! It’s a comedy that takes place in 1984 at Las Colinas Resort and the Mexican 1980s characters, style, set, vibe, is giving.) The main character, Maximo, exclaims: “I literally flew into town for you pre-school graduation!!!” We are watching this episode the night of Camden’s Pre-K graduation.

🛵4.14.24. My friend spotted a UNH license plate on a moped our first night in Budapest. I love when someone can call these moments out on a groups behalf. She imparted “it’s telling us we are exactly right in this moment. we are meant to be here together.” Yea! UNH (University of New Hampshire) is were we all went to college. I went on to call out little moments of serendipity I had on this trip — (read about them: here + here!)

Even for the littlest of things, do you wonder, what are the odds of this? (Or do you think, this girl is a bit woo, this matters not at all?) It matters and it doesn’t matter. That’s the entire point. Neither does scrolling your phone, an online feed! (I’m not saying I don’t scroll apps, I do! I like Substack Notes! Go get your Instagram buzz on! Do it! But I am doing it less. Much less. That is all.)

Why not connect yourself to your life in ways that make the everyday seem…..however you want! fun? enhanced? less dull? funny? an extra smile?

If you’re seeking connection in the world, this is one path to it. Look inward, look outward, but look to and for your Serendipity and your Synchronicity. Your personal guiding forces for good.

I’m smiling every time the universe gives me a tiny gift. It is something to trust in, to feel connected to. And the more I say “thanks for that”, the more I notice. Don’t force it, don’t obsess about it, you need to surrender a bit.

I’ve received much bigger signs from the universe in this lifetime and, recently, some cool ones in regards to this newsletter. Being here. Writing this. Sending it to you guys. I’m here largely because my instincts tell me to keep writing. If I’m not sending a newsletter every week, I’m still over here writing is what I’m trying to say. (And apparently, I do have a lot to say!) I also receive so many signs from my Dad, (who died in 2021). I’d love to share those sometime….we can go deeper with all of this!

Tell me your moments + signs in the comments. A deep source of connection is here online with you all, too!!! Multiple truths. Look at that.