Last year I had to have some new business cards printed so I went to the local Staples store in Bonita Springs. A store manager helping me that afternoon whose name is Kelly asked me some questions about the book which appeared printed on the card. I explained that it was about synchronicity, and she suggested that I contact the local Unity Church in Naples and see if I could arrange to do a speaking and book signing event. She was a former assistant minister there and said that the audience and congregation would well receive my topic of discussion.
So, I attended a Sunday worship service, introduced myself to the then minister, and after the service attended a meet and greet session for first-time attendees with the minister and his assistants. When it came to my turn to speak I said I was visiting from the NJ/NY area and that I had studied the Unity teachings back in the 1970s for many years with the late Dr. and Mrs. Eric Butterworth who were known and respected in the Unity movement. I then shared that I had authored a best-selling book on synchronicity and that I had taken care of the late Dr. Wayne Dyer who was also very well known in the Unity movement. Wayne had once spoken at the church service some years ago. Once they heard my story of how I met Wayne and became his chiropractor, I sold out all the books I had in my possession – on the spot!
That very same night Judy and I got invited to a block party with food and musical entertainment in a gated community by a fellow chiropractor friend of mine. When we rang the bell, the person who opened the door to greet us was no other than — the Staples store manager! She was a close friend and neighbor to my friend and lived across the street. She took one look at me and said — I know you. Didn’t I help you with formatting and printing business cards?
Now fast forward to one year later. We rented a two-bedroom condo in a new community because the house which we had been renting for the past 5 years was sold. We found this new unit because someone I had met on a beach and wound up selling my book to a neighbor in upstate NY who was looking to rent it. We visited and rented it on the spot thinking that we could rent it for the next several years from January to April.
Within a week of our arrival, we decided to call the rental agent and place our reservation for the following season. We not only liked the unit but more importantly we liked the community at large and all it offered in terms of amenities like the clubhouse, community health center, tennis, and private boat transfer to a beach area minutes away. Unfortunately for us, we were informed that the owner had reconsidered his offer to rent to us for the full 4 months next year and that he would now be using the unit for 2 months himself for family and personal use. Since we were not willing to rent two different places for two months each and have to move twice we declined his offer.
We decided to begin the search once again for a future rental in the same community where our current rental was located inside the Wiggins Bay complex of seven different neighborhoods. I had told Judy just the day before that we should hold the vision and come into agreement that we were going to be able to find another property in one of the seven Wiggins Bay communities. I suggested that we take a walk around the surrounding properties and get a feel for the different communities. So, we crossed the road separating our community from the one immediately adjacent to ours. I noticed a door to one unit open and was about to peek in when a lady came out and walked down the steps to her car in front of me. I asked her if the unit was for rent and lo and behold I discovered it was the same Staples manager from the year before! Talk about coincidence! She said she was helping another realtor to stage the unit for sale not rental. Close but no cigar as they say. She added that as far as she knew there were no units for rent in that complex — only resales being offered.
Judy and I continued our walk and when we returned to our condo we said maybe we should contact our friend and realtor, Marsha who ran the Woo Woo Sisters club where I would be the guest speaker soon on synchronicity to ask if she knew of any long-term winter rentals? So, I called Marsha and invited her to come by the very next day for lunch at our condo to discuss a possible rental opportunity.
Marsha arrived and I shared with her my coincidence story about meeting the lady from Staples now twice in a row last year and this one. Marsha informed me that she personally did not do rentals only sales, but she knew someone named Bianca who perhaps had something to offer us or knew of a possible long-term rental possibility. I then called Bianca, left a message, and awaited a return call which came promptly. Unfortunately, she did not have any winter rental opportunities, but Marsha had suggested we consider an annual rental since the cost differential between winter high season and annual was not too great money-wise.
Now Bianca did not know anything about us or our desire and intention to remain in the Wiggins Bay area when she said that because of the tight market on the supply-side there were not a lot of choices, but she did have one unit only for annual rental in a community within Wiggins Bay at Harborside and asked if we would consider going there to see it.
I said ‘hallelujah’ because that’s where we were now renting and that was our first choice if anything was available. I asked what was the unit number and she replied 520. We were in unit 515 — literally two hundred feet from it. I asked her when might we see it and she replied that she would call to see if the current renter would be ok to let us come by and see the unit. Within ten minutes the way was cleared, and Judy and I walked over to inspect the property.
I never got past the kitchen area while Judy and the renter had a tour of the unit. Why did I not get to see the unit you might ask. The reason is simple — another woman was standing in the kitchen area who was visiting the renter woman. I asked her — where are you from and how long are you staying here. She replied that she had just arrived, was from Sedona, AZ and was staying only a day or two before moving into a rental property in a nearby community. I then asked her what she did job-wise, and she replied that she was a transformational teacher and energy healer. Bingo! I knew immediately that I had just met a kindred spirit and soul friend.
Judy emerged from the tour with a smile on her face and when I asked her if she liked the unit, a resounding yes came forth. I called Bianca immediately and booked the property for the next season. Talk about timing and proximity.
Now the addendum to this story is this –
When we told Marsha, our realtor friend, that Bianca, the annual rental agent that she had recommended, actually found us a place to rent in the same community where we were now renting in she casually asked us the unit number of the new rental property. When we told her she remembered that she was the original agent that sold that unit to her friends some ten years prior but had lost contact with them. Go figure, look at how we were all synchronistically connected and in Marsha’s case reconnected with some long-lost friends. Was this fate, luck or destiny working out here?
Life has a way in the most uncanniest of ways of bringing people together again after long periods of separation. We got the new rental condo in the community of our choice, and it was within very close proximity and just happened to be available for rental beginning the day our last rental was over! Whatever the reason or reasons we are delighted nonetheless to have found this new rental property in such a tight real estate market. Come May 1st, we will simply be walking our belongings over to the new unit and not transport our stuff back and forth to and from New Jersey next year! This is a perfect ending for all concerned.