Dear Reader:

Yesterday really was a terrific day! Nothing bad or frustrating or weird about it…just a beautiful, gorgeous day to be alive! …And it was definitely filled with blessings!

I planted orange (what else) zinnias in the front yard barrel, along with lantana, and then added some left-over plants in between the ivy growing in the side front yard. I can hardly wait to watch them grow.

I went to breakfast with friends and my neighbor Luke sent his buddy, J.D., over to look at some home improvements I have needed help with… ‘improving’… and he is ready to go…such a nice guy!

The Friday the 13th strange coincidence actually arrived early in the morning (around 6:30) in the form of an email from WordPress letting me know that someone liked the blog “My Life is Based on a True Story” and I should check their blog out too. (I always try to thank anyone who sends a comment or WordPress notification that they liked a blog I wrote…it is the courteous thing to do and I truly appreciate the person taking time to respond. It always makes my day!)

So now I am going to share the message I wrote Liam Cross back, the person who sent the nice notification, because in it I shared the strangely wonderful coincidence that happened…on Friday the 13th!

Dear Liam

My name is Rebecca Dingle (just call me Becky) and I write the blog ‘Chapelofhopestories.’ Yesterday morning, early around 6:30, WordPress sent me an email that you liked Friday’s blog story “My Life is Based on a True Story.” 

I always like to thank anyone for a nice comment or kind gesture so I pulled your website and started reading your ‘bio’ and then about fell off my chair. Friday the 13th was playing a prank on me…the universe was throwing some strange ‘curve’ connections my way. 

Let me explain. Recently I have been working on my family tree…my father’s side of the family and my maiden name- Barbour. Thursday I made a research discovery that cleared up some of my puzzled results I received back from the ‘ancestry.com’kit.  

Barbour is Scottish and I have pictures of my father and uncle dressed in kilts during WWII when they met in Scotland for a photo. (However, the results from the ancestry kit only mentioned “British” (England) as my highest percentage of lineage…not Scotland.) 

So when I found this research article Thursday night it said:

“The Chronicles of Scottish history reveal that the first people to use the surname ‘Barbour’ were the Strathclyde Britons who resided near the river Clyde. The first documented recording of the name ‘Barbour’ was found in Northumberland and Cumberland where the Barbours held a family seat from ancient times. Barbours were Scottish border clans and lived on both sides of the boundaries separating the two countries-Northern England and Scotland.”

*Thursday night I made a connection between Cumberland and my birth certificate. I was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina which is in Cumberland County. So the Scottish name followed my descendants to America through Virginia and especially North Carolina where many of my ancestors settled.

Still there was one more surprise waiting for me on Friday the 13th. You can only imagine my excitement and delight when I started reading your bio yesterday and discovered you lived (right now, in the present day)  in Northumberland, England! I had to laugh out loud…of course you did! How else could this universal prank play out any other way on Friday the 13th. 

I just wanted to share this ‘God Wink’ with you and wish you a wonderful day!  

Becky Barbour Dingle

P.S. (I think Sarah Addison Allen’s writing style that she self-describes as “Southern fried magical realism” extends to this situation…don’t you?)

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

What fun! Making connections with people all over the country and world is the true reward for writing a daily blog…there are new friends, acquaintances, and perhaps even cousins just waiting to connect.

*I did hear back from Liam after sending my message to him and he responded with…

Kindest regards,
Liam J Cross

Owner of Liam-J-Cross Writing & Editing

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

So until tomorrow…

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”– Dr. Seuss

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*One last strange event…as I went to put the blog to bed…the number of followers changed to 888….I never knew the universe was such a prankster!