I am not a conspiracy theorist. I’d kind of like to be though, because it does sound kind of fun, being able to believe in all those connections, those wild connections between politicians and weather and dates and history and cat food brands…or something like that. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. Much as I’d like it to be otherwise, I kind of just believe that JFK was shot by a mad bloke, not that I was there.
But – and here’s the thing – I do believe in patterns. It’s a left-handed thing, apparently, although I’m sure there are a lot of right-handed people out there who notice the same things I do, and a lot of right-handed conspiracy theorists. But there you go, left-handed people tend to notice patterns a lot – and that in itself is a pattern. Oh. I read about that one long before I noticed it though.
I LOVED reading the comments on Friday’s post about birth stories and personalities. I’m so pleased and excited that it’s not just me, that other parents can notice similar connections. Not that any of it means anything really, but it’s fun, and funny, and makes the universe a more interesting place to be. Have any of you who are married or in long-term relationships noticed another pattern too – that morning people marry night people? That people who fold their toilet paper marry people who scrunch? That people who bite into their Easter Eggs marry people who prefer to break them? There’s a pattern here too, folks – we’ve tested this theory a few times and it’s seems pretty…oh, I was going to say “universal” until I realized that you could hardly call toilet paper or Easter Eggs that. But you know what I mean.
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but I do believe in a God in Heaven who’s really not limited by our understanding, and sometimes I wonder if God is left-handed too, or if some of these patterns I see around me are actually God’s doing. I’ve learned, as I’ve got older, that if I’m feeling lonely and isolated and depressed there’s a high chance that my friends are feeling it too, like some kind of seasonal flu (and have you ever noticed the times that you’re feeling lonely and isolated that you just presume everyone else is happy and you don’t want to bother them? Oh, is that just me). If I’m feeling stretched to the end of my capabilities then yes, quite often I find that my closest buddies are feeling the same thing in their own lives or their own little corners of the world, as if a stretching rain has come, or a lonely sunshine, and we all feel it, together.
I’ve found that 2012 has been a stretching, dramatic, pivotal year for a lot of people. It’s been a good year for me, in the way that, say, an amputation of a gangrenous leg is good – even without an anaesthetic. I’m smiling, although my gritted teeth are aching a little by now. Some years are like that – I haven’t had one this memorable for a while. 1993 was one too, a memorable, gangrenous-leg kind of year.
And…here’s the weirdest of the patterns I’ve ever noticed, the remarkable thing that makes me stop and wonder about the nature of God and the universe: the people I know that have had big, earth-shattering leg-amputating years this year, in 2012, also seem to have had enormous, gangrenous-leg experiences in 1993.
I don’t read anything into that. I can’t, because I will be wrong. My brain just isn’t big enough to think that much outside of the box to come up with anything that’s not just silly. I’m not a conspiracy theorist.
But I believe.
How about you? Have you had an enormous and memorable 2012? Have you ever noticed patterns like this in the lives of people around you? Do you like conspiracy theories too?
Megan Sayer 
My hubby came up with a conspiracy theory yesterday – that the seeds in the packets we buy at the nursery, are designed to be inferior and not provide good fruit, so that we are forced to continue to shop at the supermarkets who get their vegies from the huge market gardens with their ‘perfect’ samples. He’s a very suspicious sort, my hubby. 😉
As for big years – that was last year, and perhaps next year, who knows …
Amanda I’ve actually heard that theory before…who knows, maybe your hubby is right? Hang on, no…the theory was the seeds are designed not to re-seed well, so you have to keep buying new seeds. Close enough. But yes, he sounds the suscpicious sort 🙂
I’m with you, Megan. And proof that there are patterns is that women who live together, say in dorms, become synced with their menstrual cycles. Now does that prove patterns, or what. 🙂 My honey and I used to be opposites in about everything – and it drove each of us crazy. But after living together for almost 50 years we have become so patterned after each other that we think as one. Very scary.
Pat that’s lovely – and a tad scary. But beautiful. My husband and I are so different in so many ways – particular the morning/night person thing (which, considering the way life is right now, is terrible for communication). But I was thinking of your comment last night while we were watching TV and he started googling something. I asked him what he was looking up, and he says “I’ll tell you in a minute”, and I said “you think that actress is pregnant and they’re trying to hide it, right?” and he looked at me. “did you think that in the first frame?”
“Yup”.
Oh my. It’s true. Nearly 17 years of marriage and we DO think the same after all.
See, it happens. How funny.
I love a good conspiracy theory, the madder the better, haha
Yes!! yes!!! There’s just something so delicious about them, eh?
I didn’t know that lefties see patterns in things more than righties…well that explains a lot about how my brain works – I’m a lefty and I definitely see patterns in things, and here I thought I was just paranoid!
No, it’s true! Ha! Glad to be able to do a Community Service for you Sharon 🙂
I read a book years and years ago called “The Natural Superiority of Left-handers” (a fun look at famous left-handed people and facts), and that’s where I learned it. But apparently science has proved that the right lobe (which controls the left side, and is stronger in LH people) is the part of the brain wired for pattern recognition and finding connections in otherwise random-seeming data. Cool, eh?
Oh, I really like the topics you address in your blog, and there’s so much I want to say, now 🙂
2012 has been an eventful year for me, more than other years, I suppose. It is also a very tough one. Now, I’m a right-handed person,but would have been a leftie (if they let me). And I tend to notice patterns in life, too. For example, how everything evens out. For most part of this year, I felt like I have been let down too much – by fate and by faith – and started wondering why these things happened to me of all people.
I like to think that i’ve learned from 2012. That even an unsettling diagnose or a complete mess in your life can and will change the way you perceive things, and that this shift in thoughts carries good in itself. It may take a while, but I believe that we can truly find something good in even the worst experiences. And in december, when I can finally judge 2012 as a whole, I’m pretty sure I will have found that positive essence, and it will be so valuable that it easily outweighs the bad and the depressing times. Because it has been like that for all my short life, and some years simply are more turbulent years, rather than “better” or “worse”. Where there are extreme lows, there will be highs, maybe not as ample, but several ones instead.
That’s probably the most important pattern I noticed, this year, and I’m certain that everyone who struggled this year will find good in an unexpected place.
Keep up your writing, Megan, I really enjoy it!
I feel for your turbulent year! You’ve described it well, too. Not bad, or “better or worse”, but Turbulent. Unsettling. Much as I’ve often referred to 2012 as a “bad” year in so many ways it’s equally been a positive one, in the way that big internal change will always be positive (and feel about as negative).
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been let down. It’s a hard place to be, and I pray that in the months and years to come that there’ll be a redemption of sorts, in whatever area that looks like.
And thank you so much for your lovely comments about my blog! Made my morning 🙂
I have totally noticed on days when I’m feeling blue, others are too. I love the analogy of 2012 being a gangrenous leg. I couldn’t agree more!!