Coincidence?

It's odd, this life...and magical, and creepy, and welcome and amazing.

During the day yesterday, I found myself facing a moral dilemma: whether or not it was time to delete Annika's email address from my list of contacts. I paused, staring at her name, several times, and rather sheepishly sent her long defunct account the notice of my new address. The redundant "mail cannot be delivered" message stung a little too much and convinced me to - finally - let the email address go.

During the night yesterday, Annika visited my dreams again; but, for the first time, it was just Annika. There was no undercurrent of cancer or problems of any variety. She was merely joining her sister and our mother on a wild adventure through an airport and subsequent rodeo. In the dream, we were working together, laughing out loud, and having the most comfortable interactions imaginable.

Sure, the same-day email address deletion and dream visitation may be coincidental. It may also be coincidence that, last night, I happened to sleep in her white t-shirt with a blue Ganesha on it. But shrugging things off to boring coincidence is not how I roll. Annika doesn't show up in my dreams very often. Nor do I happen upon her email address or wear that shirt very often. Besides, it's more fun being a subscriber to the "it's all connected" line of thinking. It's sort of like religion - without having to be all religious - in the way it offers meaning to the daily drudgery and allows for a sense the profound.

Still, there's something niggling at me about this whole thing: we went to a freakin' rodeo?!