Known by many names and attributed to different sources, I first encountered this concept when I visited Italy. It’s that sense that you’re moving in time with the universe. Almost like dancing. Simply to the rhythm of unheard drums.

Italians live life in a way that is entirely different

If  you’ve ever had to make your way down an unlit pathway you know what I’m trying to describe. It’s how you know you’re still on the path.  It’s the solid, reassuring surface beneath your feet. When you wander off path you feel a change in surface, could be the soft spring of grass, or stubbing your toe against larger obstacles off the pathway. Whatever the change, you know it. You feel if. You’re off the path.

Q: In life, how do you know when you’re on the path?

Tough question – but, it is how I know that I am where I’m meant to be…and while that answer is infrequently satisfying to friends & family who worry about me here, it’s true. When you do get it right, you know it. Things work. Not always easily, not always perfectly, but you get the feeling you are being moved along by life’s current rather than fighting against it.

So…why am I writing about this??? I have been thinking about it a lot over the past couple of weeks. Though I know I am now where I should be, what is unclear to me is how will I know when I am done here – should I take a new job – hang on to the old one? I am struggling with letting life unfold. I am impatiently awaiting Spring, and wondering why I don’t have a fast-forward button to make the flowers bloom, or to make the answers clear now.

Then, a couple of days ago, a funny thing happened. I woke up before my alarm with a cold start – where was my favorite jacket I’d brought with me from home? The thought pulled me out of bed and had me searching futilely through my closet and suitcases. The last time I’d seen it was in Dubai nearly three weeks earlier.

I called the hotel, and they asked me to call back later that afternoon while they checked with their housekeeping department. In the meantime I randomly called a friend in Kabul who was due to go on her R&R. We Skype from time to time, but maybe chat on the phone every 3-4 weeks.

Her visa was expiring, so her R&R date had been moved up to the following day. She was being sent to Dubai to get her visa processed. As it turned out she was booked into the hotel I’d stayed in – the hotel confirmed they had my jacket…and in a strange twist, she was even booked into the room I’d stayed in.

Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t. This time I was charmed. Had it gone another way, would I be cursed, or might some housekeeper in Dubai ended up with a lovely jacket? I suppose it is all in the perspective.

For all the good and for bad, life is a trip & a worthwhile journey.  …and yes, I admit it’s easy to say when you’re just been charmed!