Cluster Lucks and Fortunes

I am not really a believer in fate or destiny, and I don't actually believe that events in our lives function as traffic signals, telling us which way to turn and how fast to go or when, precipitously, to come to a screeching halt. And yet there are times when I wonder, and times when circumstances seem so pointed or so clustered that one might be a fool not to note their presentation. "Cosmic coincidences," they often seem, or "cluster lucks."

Two such cosmic clusters seem to be operative right now in my life, and if the spider who just bit me as I tried to write on my front porch doesn't turn out to be fatally poisonous, I am really quite provoked by both these seemingly celestial strands. Tonight I'll introduce you to them. Tomorrow, if my right arm, which is now swelling and still hurts an uncommon lot, has not been amputated, I'll tell you more.

The first has to do with the blog post I put up about a week ago about dogs and Muslims. Shortly after posting that, I tracked down the one remaining puppy mentioned therein, put out a few inquiries into a seemingly unresponsive virtual reality, and now it is looking awfully much like this puppy may be put on a jet in Cairo on Tuesday and be taken off the plane in Chicago, where I will be waiting with the usual American armload of toys and food and love.

The second is less material, but perhaps even more important (though I'm sure the puppy wouldn't agree with that assessment). But all this last week, it seemed like everyone and everything wanted to tell me one thing: Follow your passion, and everything will be fine. A movie ("Three Idiots," recommend it highly for almost anyone older than eight and maybe even eight  year olds), some faculty emails, the elderly artists I'm preparing to film, random posts on Facebook coming at me from all parts of the world.

Of course, none of this will matter at all if the spider who just bit me in a way that puts to shame the pain caused by a bee sting or a knife cut, was something deadly, so while I go further investigate this target-like swelling on my elbow with the flaming red hole in the middle of it, let me leave you with one thought that is not bad, in a pinch, for a last thought:

Follow your passion and everything will be all right.

And I'm not talking about falling in love, btw. But you can fall in love, too, 'cause that's the other life element no one should miss.