Be Aware and call a friend after you read this.
The first time I met and worked with Eddie was in Chicago in 1993. We couldn’t have been more different people.
He was British and I am from Missouri. Our tastes for clothing, food, music, drink…all on different planets. My favorite music…Jimmy Buffett. Who? he said.
We scheduled (or as Eddie would say being British, “sheduled”, no “c”) a monthly business review for Monday morning August 30, 1993, at our Indianapolis facility. As luck would have it, Jimmy Buffett’s Chameleon Caravan Tour was “sheduled” to play in Indy on Sunday evening 8/29 at Deer Creek Music Theatre. Unbeknownst to me, synchronicity at work.
One of our Indy-based colleagues had season tickets to Deer Creek and offered them to us. Interesting…all coming together.
On our Sunday flight, we were upgraded to First Class. Anxious to get going, two guys boarded and sat across the aisle from Eddie, wearing Corona Beer Polo shirts(Jimmy’s tour sponsor).
The guys asked Eddie if we were going to the concert(we were wearing the colorful Caribbean silk shirts). Eddie stated, in a matter-of-fact manner, that it was his “first-ever Jimmy Buffett show”. They invited us to the pre-show Corona hospitality tent. They claimed that Jimmy stopped by usually before the show. Another example. It still wasn’t evident to me.
Of course, the Corona hospitality tent, the concert, what a night! A friendship began that will never end. Synchronicity at work.
For the next 20 years, Eddie and I (in later years with a few other friends) attended the Buffett summer shows in Indianapolis. There was never a question of whether we would attend.
I guess when you invest the time and attend 20 straight years of Jimmy Buffett concerts together, you cover a lot of ground about life during plane/car trips, pre-concert tailgates, and post-concert wind-downs. You can’t help but get very close.
Not being aware of the existence of synchronicity nor its meaning, it took me quite a while to understand that I have had an unusual relationship with the numbers 6 and 1 throughout my life. I heard a consultant once say that the saying is not… “I will know it when I see it…it really is…“I will see it when I know it.”
It wasn’t until the early 2000’s when I invested time researching my mother, her family, and her history. She had passed away when I was very young, in 1961. My birthday is 1/6. And Eddie’s birthday is 6/1. And, the only Saturday available at the venue hosting my family only wedding(Eddie and his wife attended of course) in Islamorada, FL was the 16th. Just a few examples. It was a bit surreal at first, yet it has become very real in my life.
Then in 2018, surprisingly, I receive a call one Saturday morning that Eddie had passed earlier in the day. He was 61. Shocking, beyond belief. Changed my life. Synchronicity at its worst? Or was this simply another sign?
I guess my point is, that we all have pivot opportunities in our lives. When I heard Eddie had passed that morning, I remember saying out loud “this is a sign…not sure what he is saying to me, but I will figure it out.” I took a different path after his death that was very unlike me.
Take the time to get in touch with YOU and explore anything you think you may need to do, to make life more fulfilling for you and your loved ones today and in the future. Like, when I started writing this article, I needed a break and I called my best friend since grade school. We don’t have too many of these kinds of people in our lives.
See the synchronicity(meaningful coincidence) in your life, like 6 & 1 for me. Since I found it…I know it, I see it, when I need reassurance, when I’m troubled or when I’m happy. On the back of a truck or on a billboard, on a dry cleaning ticket or an Rx, One-Six(16) or Six-One(61) shows up and it grounds me.
Your integrity, your kindness, and the respect you’ve earned over the years bring you credibility that is not taken lightly. Your close friends and family will be honored that you choose to share this intimate insight with them.
So, please, do this one thing today… take a moment to Be Aware and call a friend.
#beaware61
