No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. ~ Zen saying

Though snow will not be falling in Arenal this solstice season, Wilder says that maybe Stephanie -- "who's a spirit now" -- will make it snow in Costa Rica for us on Christmas. Maybe -- weirder things are happening on this earth! . . . We did get to enjoy some snow in Steph's memory when we went to her memorial celebration in Utah a couple of weeks ago. We were very privileged to be there and were so very happy that our agreeable yet lengthy experiences at the U.S. Consulate and Costa Rica Immigration made it possible for Sage to travel so we could all go! Park City was the quintessential winter wonderland -- rooftops and trees heavy with snow and sparkling with holiday lights, all glinty white. It was a wonderful treat considering that the circumstance for our trip was a sad one. Our visit, however, was really as joyous as anything else. Not only was the snow idyllic, but so was Steph's memorial. It was just what her husband Kevin said she wanted -- one big ol' party! A carpet of rose petals greeted family, friends, students, parents of students, hospice workers and past nurses who all partied in her honor, many wearing orange and purple boas and festive-wear, gnoshing on sushi (from her favorite restaurant), nipping red and white wine (chilled in snow), dancing to Spearhead and Bob Marley, laughing, crying, sharing memories. Everyone there was like a member of one big family, bonded by the beautiful sparkley glue that is Stephanie. We wrote messages in memory books and pasted Polaroids of ourselves in them, dashed notes on slips of paper and put them in a big wine bottle that will be thrown out to sea near Hawaii (Janine and Cam, you rock), bonded with old friends, introduced ourselves to new ones and swapped stories about how we knew Stephanie...I got to speak to the shamanic healer who helped Steph move out of this world and also to one of Steph's good friends who got to caress her and whisper to her after she died. I hear that up until the end she was making friends and leaving strong impressions on everyone around her in the hospital. That shows exactly who she was and will always be.

"The unseen design of things is more harmonious than the seen." -- Heraclitus

So here's a great serendipitous offshoot of that evening. . . .Towards the end of Steph's celebration, Wilder made a new friend named Zeke. Their raison d'etre became jumping off the staircase railing into their dads' arms. (Definitely not a mom game.) In talking with Zeke's dad, TJ, Chris finds out that he not only knows of Chris' company Drivesavers, but he used its services a couple of years ago. AND he and his wife just bought property in -- who ever would have guessed it -- Guerneville! Of all places! Chris and TJ continue to chat, do a little male bonding, and then make a plan for our families to get together the next day for a little snow play. So the next day we hang out with them at their pad in Heber City -- TJ, Susie, Zeke (4), and Gabriella (9 months). The 4-year-olds busied themselves fighting over toys and sneaking Xmas chocolates, the dads talked nonstop about whatever it is they talked about, and Susie and I chilled with the babes and talked nonstop about just about everything. Somewhere in there Chris mentions that we know a guy from Costa Rica who used to live in Heber City. The connections are endless. We all got along really well. Eventually the dads and older boys went tubing at a nearby hill (this is after Zeke and Wilder have beaten Frosty the Snowman with a broomstick yelling, "Come to life, Frosty! Come to life, Frosty!" Eventually resulting in, "Frosty's dead." Poor Frosty.). When the guys got back from tubing, we all decided to go into Park City for sushi (at Shabu where Steph used to work). We spent a delectable evening eating way too much sushi while Wilder and Zeke literally ran circles around the restaurant (apparently they eat here often and the waiters don't seem to mind that our children are causing a ruckus in this nice, dimly lit upscale restaurant). When our evening ends, it feels as if we've all been friends for years. We bid adieu and head back to our respective domiciles, ours being a hotel in Salt Lake City. Well, by the time we get there, Chris already has an email from them with the final, piece de resistance of coincidence and connection between us all. . . . While on their way home, Susie had a lightbulb moment and figures out that "the guy we know from Costa Rica who used to live in Heber City" MUST be Dickie Welch, who she's known since she was a young girl in Michigan. So she calls him up and asks if he knows us and he says, "Hell yeah, they're my friends. They're the ones who bought my house in Costa Rica!" We can't believe it -- the connection is just too far out: We come to Utah for Stephanie's memorial where Wilder happens to play with a little boy whose father happens to have been a Drivesavers customer and who happens to own property in Guerneville with his wife who happens to be like a sister to our friend Dickie who we happend to buy our house from in Costa Rica. Two ultimate truths come out of this: 1) "All Roads Lead to Costa Rica." And 2) Even in death, Stephanie continues to bring people together. ...Pure synchronicity.

When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities.
Deepak Chopra