I’ve had this blog for nearly ten years.
Ten years.
Ten years of (mostly) sheer tomfoolery. From mustaches to missing thumbs to Made for TV specials, it might be easy to think I naturally see the humor in everything. That the universe winks upon my charmed world and I wink back.
But the truth is, THIS BLOG makes me see the humor in everything. It forces me to consider how I WANT to be and to turn that into reality.
I need that. We all do.
Aside from needing to force myself into seeing the lighter side of life, I also need to force myself OUT of being, well, a bit of a…tightwad. As part of my project manager nature, I like to track money. Think about money. BE IN CONTROL of money.
In order to combat this miserliness, I make myself donate money on a regular basis – to various causes that align with my values. Because despite my practicality, I believe money, just like everything, is simply energy. It flows if you let it flow. And if you believe something is scarce? You’ll experience scarceness.
In other words, the more worried I am about money, the more I make a habit of giving it away.
It…sucks. I feel stupid. Reckless. Pissed off.
And then, quickly, always, I feel…wonderful.
I hesitate to share the following story because it seems like a major #humblebrag, but, well, once you read it, you’ll (hopefully) see that I JUST HAD TO.
Before I fled the recent wildfires here in Oregon, I made a guilt-ridden, combat-Scrooge-Jules donation to the Red Cross, hoping to help some of those faceless heroes fighting fires and other altogether badass things.
My donation was for $1,111.
Because, you know. 11:11. It’s a lucky number full of all kinds of mysticism, and if you’re like me, you’ve always made a wish whenever you’ve caught the clock at that hour.
With that donation under my belt, I made the long drive from Oregon to New Jersey to stay with family for a couple of weeks. I worried during the entire 3,000 mile drive. Was I hand-sanitizing well enough? How would my home state feel after all of these months, especially during a pandemic? Were my friends in Bend doing okay with all of that smoke? Did I make a big mistake by not getting a t-shirt at the world’s largest truck stop?
When I arrived in New Jersey, a strange series of events ensued – all during three consecutive days.
First, my sister paid me back for a COVID-canceled trip: $150.
Next, my father wrote me a check for another family trip that I’d made a deposit for (but had mistakenly thought he’d already paid for): $933.
Then, I went out to (outdoor, masked) dinner with my two best New Jersey girlfriends, Mary and Jenn. Mary drove and after we parked, I stepped out of her car and looked down.
“Uh, Mary, there’s a bunch of money in your car…” I said, my voice muffled behind my mask.
I grabbed a wad of $5 and $1 bills that were wedged between the passenger door and seat. I hadn’t noticed them when I’d gotten in. Mary furrowed her brows.
“I haven’t even driven this car in months [because of the pandemic]. I have no idea where that came from.”
“I think it looks like more than it is because of all of the singles…”
I counted the bills. $28.
“Well, perfect, our tip is covered,” Mary smirked.
We joked about it until our dinner bill came. I quickly calculated a 20% tip.
“Holy shit you guys, a 20% tip comes out to exactly…$28!”
Mary and Jenn were already onboard Jules’s Woo-Woo Bandwagon, so we simply laughed about how cool and “typical” the whole thing was.
The next day, as I quietly sipped my coffee on my parents’ living room couch, I suddenly thought, “Huh. All of this money I’ve unexpectedly stumbled upon probably amounts to close to what I just donated to the Red Cross…”
I got out my phone and tallied the numbers.
$150.
$933.
$28.
Sure enough…the total was:
$1,111.
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No way! Wow. With that kind of symmetry you should have hit Atlantic City.
š
Ha! I’ve had to be very careful not to let my latent scratch-off addiction take hold…
True story. xoxo
Is that a quarter…?
I love it! Thatās how life is supposed to roll – every day!! As one of my favorite mediums (Jamie Butler) says, itās not woo woo, itās true, true.
Ha! I love that. And yes — I’ve definitely found (as I’m sure you have) that the more I acknowledge these kinds of things, the more they roll in!! …I wonder if I get bonus acknowledgment points for publicly blogging about this one… š
Ha! I love that! Indeed it is true, true! š
As a card carrying member of true-true’ers worldwide, I love everything about this post! Also, it is so nice to find a) proper blog posts, now that everyone seems to have migrated to instagram/twitter, and b) proper blog posts that ‘get real’ about life experiences most of the world has been pooh-poohing since the Enlightenment made anything other than ‘rationality’ uncool! š
Yay online sort-of-communities of potentially kindred spirits š (On that note- looking forward to your post next week, haha)
I hear your yay and am echoing it back to you loud and clear from Oregon!! š
Thatās so crazy!
Right?! I have experienced a lot of amazing synchronicity over the years, but I just love the straightforward, documented, undeniable-cool-factor nature of this one!!
i so agree
I’m glad you didn’t donate $666
Ha!! Here’s the part where I really have to rein in woo-woo Jules and not talk about numerology and the cool, non-Satanic 666 meanings. You’re welcome š
Hahahahahaha š¤£
Ok, I told myself not to tell you this, but in light of this post I have to.
Iāve been quietly following along with you for probably about 9 years. I took a little year break when I had a baby and hopped back on last fall. Iāve so enjoyed your adventures, and I feel like weād be friends if we didnāt live on opposite sides of the country! But when I started skimming posts to catch back up I was mystified….you moved to Bend? Like in Oregon? But thatās where I live! Youāre trying out all the crazy PNW outdoor rec? Iāve been there! And upon closer inspection of your photos, I think you even live in my old apartment complex…… So, I promise Iām not a stalker, but I love that you are now practically my neighbor and I could run into you at Newport Market. If you ever see someone gawking at you while walking her dog, it might be me. š¬
Okay, now you’re blowing MY mind!!! I was just working on next week’s post, which is basically about the anonymity of following people on social media, and I ended with, “So…hey…leave a comment so I know who you are!” And then your comment came in, and I was like, “Wait. Is this person leaving a comment on A POST IN THE FUTURE???”
And that’s just the first reason this is amazingly trippy! OMG. This is GREAT! Thank you SO much for deciding to comment and for all of your kind words. Sometimes I feel like I’m writing into a void and comments like this make my day/month/year.
Lastly, I’m buying you a coffee!! Or wine. Or a fancy new mask. Or my favorite Sparrow bread from Newport Market (I have a very inappropriate name for it that I’ll share when we inevitably cross paths) š
I love all of these things! I’d love to accidentally on purpose bump into you (hypothetically and 6 feet away of course)! See, I knew we would be friends. š
I feel like not enough focus was on 10 YEARS of blogging. Well done, Ms. Jules! That is truly an accomplishment and a body of (hilarious) work. Here’s to 10 more!
I mean if you need a new project now that the garden is done, would you ever consider metalsmithing? I dunno, maybe start with…a trophy in my likeness?