I’m a pretty big believer in something bigger…though I have no idea what it is. Things like quantum physics, universal laws, and strange coincidences interest and intrigue me… Celestine Prophecy, Alchemist, “The Secret” kind of stuff. I figure at very least, being observant and making a stab at being positive can’t actually have any negative effects, and I’ve had some interesting experiences as a result of paying attention to times when I feel the universe is “a step ahead of me.” A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some online learning/activities with self esteem, examining your beliefs, and things that may have impacted both. So I did an online “guided meditation” and the image/incredibly vivid memory that came to me unfolds as follows:

I’m in kindergarten, and a boy in my class (Matthew) was upset about something. (For all I know someone stole his lego…) but he was distraught. The teacher called us all over to sit on the carpet, and little Matt was still upset. I was sitting beside/behind him and felt bad that he was upset. So I took my little five year old hand, and rubbed his back to help him feel better. (What a compassionate child!) Anyone who remembers public school can probably guess what happened to me from there. “Courtney and Matthew sitting in a tree” etc. I got teased… A lot. And from that moment forward, I guess I just decided it was easier not to be OVERLY nice to anyone… “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Fast forward back to present day (for simplicity sake lets say twenty years later.) I’m working out in the gym, and this guy I’m sure I have never seen before, two consecutive days almost walks into me and says “hey hows it goin?” I smile and say hi, and go back to what I’m doing. On the third day, I’m peddling the bike, and this guy has a ten minute conversation with someone right in front of me. It’s at that point I actually look at him, and start to sense some vague familiarity… a little… and then more… Until I randomly just yell “Hey! Come here.” He does. I hesitate slightly with a raised eyebrow and I ask: “Are you Matt?” He laughs, and confirms! He knew who I was but was fairly sure I hadn’t made the connection… Of course I hadn’t: we haven’t seen each other since fourth grade!!! Nonetheless.. There he is. The Kindergarten Back Rub Boy in the flesh!

Post Script: We chatted. We became Facebook friends. He made a comment about how I wasn’t overly friendly in school, and it was at that point that I took the risk… and told him the story. I let him know that if he thought I was insane and didn’t want to talk anymore, that I understood, and that it had been fun nonetheless. To my surprise, he actually was understanding, and fairly amused by this. He told me he didn’t think I was nuts, unless of course my next confession was that I have a voodoo shrine with a picture of his five year old self somewhere in my home. It turns out, he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Jokes began to fly, and when I finally announced that I had to sign off and go to sleep, he replied: “Hey- make sure you blow out the candles on my shrine… it’s a fire hazard.” I laughed, hard. Then replied “All done. I’ll put your school picture under my pillow and see you in my dreams.” He told me not to worry about crumpling it because his mom could probably hook me up with some replacements. The guy is a hoot!

A few days later, and the day before my birthday, my mom and I were standing in a store talking to another friend of ours. By now, I had told basically everyone I know this story, including the two of them. Who should walk in? Matt, of course. Who I proudly introduced as “The Kindergarten Back Rub Boy.” Good thing he’s a great sport!!!

No. Really. Good thing. Not only did he laugh it off, -along with my jokes about his stalking me- but later that night, when we ran into him at a restaurant, and my mother walked over to converse with him as if he’s been part of our family for this entire twenty years… He didn’t even get weirded out. Or… at least he was discreet enough not to show it!

Tonight, I was working out at the gym. Working away in my fave neon green shirt that my mom gave me from a fundraiser… I step off my machine between sets, and see Matt. As we make eye contact it’s instantly obvious on both of our faces as we realize it: of all the colours, in all of the palettes in all of the world, coincidentally, today, we’ve both chosen to dawn t-shirts in the loudest neon green known to man. I couldn’t have matched him better if I actually WAS hiding in the bushes with binoculars when he packed his gym bag. I grin, say hello and simply call it like it is “ok. This is just getting creepy at this point.” It’s truly a missed opportunity that I failed to ask if he was also wearing black lace panties!

Where will my Kindergarten connection surface next… ?!