Moving to Santa Fe

At age 19 I began a road trip that lasted 19 years. The first 19 years of my life I lived on the east coast of the US, on Cape Cod. This "road trip" kept me in the US west for 19 years. I like to say my friends went to college & I went to the school of life. As I traveled back "home" to live, as a 38 year old, I was awed by the perfect balance of 19 years in the east & 19 years west, coming full circle, with endless "coincidences" in the middle. When I departed Cape Cod I had a BF named Johannah. People not only thought we were sisters but often times twins. We had met on the beach 2 years prior & instantly connected. After leaving Cape Cod I ended up living in an experimental city in central AZ called Arcosanti. One of my new friends, Andrew, had attended College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME. Johannah had gone there so I asked him if he knew her, he did, they were classmates. He asked me if I knew his best friend Prudence. I did not. Arcosanti had/has many international travelers pass through. I befriended a woman named Ann Marie who was traveling the US, from Denmark. We went on a weekend trip to Hopi Land & had a most amazing, mystical experience. At the time I was trying to decide if I would live in Santa Cruz, CA to attend massage school or Santa Fe, NM for the same reason. (Again there was another story there that was like the twilight zone). Ann Marie had spent time in both states & really tried to talk me out of settling in CA as she did not have great experiences there. She then told me about this amazing organic farm she had spent several weeks at just north of Santa Fe. She described in detail her adventures & the cast of characters. Indeed it sounded wonderful but we each have our own journey. I ended up going to live in Santa Cruz but practically upon landing there it became clear that Santa Cruz did not want me. Nothing came together, no housing, job or friends, rather it was quite a scary time. I ended up getting on a bus & headed to Santa Fe (which I had visited after leaving Arcosanti, 1 month prior). Upon landing in Santa Fe everything simply fell into place. I had a temporary place to stay (where I met my now, 30 year old daughter's father & though we have not bee together in 24 years, remain very close. There are many more "coincidences related to all of that that I won't go into now). I found a lovely place to live & a job in a tiny restaurant. There are many, many restaurants in Sant Fe. I worked while I waited for massage school to begin. All of the people I worked with were wonderful, friendly, fun & supportive. About a week into working with them, there were about 10 in all, my "light bulb" went off & I realized these were ALL of the people that Ann Marie had told me about who lived on the organic farm. ALL of them!!! It was SO amazing, here I landed in one of the cities smallest restaurants, with all of the cast of characters I was already familiar with! School began several weeks later. On the first day of class we were in a circle, introducing ourselves & saying a little bit about who we were. One of the girls was named Pru. I didn't think much about it but then after another few people spoke it suddenly occurred to me, and I asked her, if this was Andrew's (from Arcosanti) friend. Indeed this was the Prudence he asked me if I knew. He was just early in asking me! My mind bending "little" coincidences continue to this day. I love it & notice them often. People often say to me, "you always have some connection or another everywhere you go" & it is true, I do. It is one of the pieces of myself I cherish. :) Probably not so coincidental when you consider that my birthday is 11-11, as was my mother's, unlce's & my niece's. I regularly meet people with my birthday, it's the norm. My son's birthday is 12-12 :).