Bowling for Synchronicity

Today’s grocery store encounter story reminds me of an event from a Virginia bowling alley, twenty winters ago. Two of my best friends had birthdays only two days apart. Brooke’s was February 2, 1960 (a Groundhog Day baby) and Dave’s February 4 –the same year. The three of us often shared entertainment together in the form of bowling, Frisbee Golf, pizza, etc. One Sunday, while between frames, the subject of their birthdays came up again, and I noted my paternal grandmother’s birthday was wedged between theirs, exactly fifty years before, at February 3, 1910.

We thought this was cool and then I asked Brooke at what hospital she was born. She named the place and then with big surprise, Dave said he was also born there. Then I remembered that Brooke had mentioned that her birth had complications. Her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, so she had to stay at the hospital three extra days. Then it dawned on the three of us that my two best friends were together in the same maternity ward!

After that when we bowled, if Brooke or Dave made a bad shot or gutter ball, and complained, the other would say something like, “Quit your crying! I’ve been tired of hearing you whine, ever since we were boxed next to each other in the maternity ward!”

P.S. Speaking of the Groundhog, shouldn’t winter be over by now? The weather indicators have been slow to reveal this here in Idaho.