Nonfiction
-- BAY AREA STEW --
by Pat Skala |
One day when I was still working, I had an all-day meeting at the St. Francis Yacht Club. The Club is located on San Francisco Bay, nestled between two City parks, the Marina Green and Crissy Field. I arrived at the parking lot about eight in the morning. I got my briefcase out of the trunk of my car and went inside. I didn’t come out again until the meeting adjourned at 4 o’clock.
When I got to my car I discovered that I didn’t have my keys. I looked in my purse, my briefcase, all my pockets and even under the car. Nothing. I went back into the building and searched the room where the meeting had taken place and the women’s restroom. Still nothing.
I was starting to get upset because my husband and I have only one car; he was working and wouldn’t be able to bring another set of keys until he finished work at 6 pm. He didn’t carry a cellphone at the time so I had no way of contacting him anyway. A bigger concern was that I had a date to meet a friend for drinks at Martooni’s at 5 pm, so I had to figure something out quick.
I went to the Yacht Club Information Desk. The young woman sitting there did not raise her head when I asked if anyone had found a set of keys. Instead, she just moved her lowered head slightly to the left and right and said, “No.”
I didn’t feel this showed enough concern for my situation so I said through gritted teeth, “Well, do you have a Lost and Found?”
At this, she looked up with a sneer and said, “No, we don’t, and no one turned in any keys. If you need to leave your car in the parking lot overnight you need to inform the Harbor Master.” She waved her hand, I suppose in the direction of the Harbor Master’s Office, but I wasn’t paying attention. I did not intend to leave my car in the parking lot overnight.
I could see I wasn’t going to get anywhere with the Snow Princess whose people skills obviously needed work. I’ve been in therapy enough times to know I would have to deal with this problem on my own. I decided (quite arbitrarily) that I must have dropped the keys in the trunk of the car when I got out my briefcase. I called Triple A and asked for someone to come and do whatever it is they do to get into people’s cars. The dispatcher didn’t believe I could have dropped the keys in the trunk and gave me a bad time for not having a hide-a-key, but eventually agreed to send someone.
Now alone in the parking lot, I did what I always do when I’m in trouble. I prayed. My prayer is one that I found over 40 years ago, the first time I wanted to learn to read Tarot Cards. I bought a book that purported to explain the relationship between the Major Arcana and the Hebrew Alphabet. * Since I knew nothing about either of these things, the book was useless to me. The prayer in the preface of the book moved me, though, so I memorized it and have been saying it almost daily ever since.
The prayer is not a supplication but a list of beliefs. It begins, “I am a center of expression for the Primal Will to Good, Which eternally creates and sustains the universe.” This is followed by a series of statements which express how the Primal Will influences the life of the person praying. The relevant statement for my situation was, “From the exhaustless reaches of Its limitless substance, I draw all things needful both spiritual and material.”
I have absolute faith in the efficacy of this prayer. After all, since learning it I have met my true love and life partner; we own a home together in San Francisco; I am in good health and I have financial resources adequate for my needs. The only caveat is that it’s taken me years, decades even, to achieve these goals. I know I cannot rely on the Primal Will for immediate help. Thus, over the years I have learned to use quantum physics when I need help right away.
Deepak Chopra has taught me how to use quantum theory for my personal benefit. Deepak believes that we all operate on a “plane of pure potentiality” and he discusses this idea in terms of quantum physics, in particular, the idea that there are many more dimensions in our universe than the 4 we are familiar with. So why can’t one of these extra 8 or 11 dimensions be the plane of pure potentiality where anything might happen? I like the idea.
In the parking lot, I was mumbling to myself, “I draw all things needful and I really need those keys.” And in my mind’s eye, I was visualizing quarks, neutrinos and Higgs boson particles bouncing around, bumping into one another while creating the material world we live in. I am reminding myself that the potential for the keys to be in the car is very good. I am praying that the keys will manifest themselves in the trunk of my car even if I did not drop them there that morning.
Right away something good happened. The Triple A guy showed up in less than 10 minutes, which for a Friday afternoon was pretty amazing. For some reason, he didn’t think I dropped the keys in the trunk.
This guy doesn’t know me from a load of snow. He doesn’t know that I once found my keys in the refrigerator or that each time I leave my house I need to take 10 minutes to find my keys. Or that I often find them in the pocket of a jacket hanging in the front closet. I cut him short by thanking him for his opinion and asked him to break into my car so I can get my keys.
He started to work on the car window and I walked around to the other side of the car and started praying again. In less than 2 minutes a young man in a pickup truck drove up to me. He said, “Did anyone here lose a set of keys this morning?”
“Oh my God, yes! I did.”
“Well, I was in the parking lot this morning at 8:30 and I saw some keys sticking out of the lock of the trunk of a car. I guess it was this car.”
I am horrified. What kind of airhead leaves her keys sticking out of the lock and walks away from her car. My husband will kill me. I won’t tell him that part.
The young man went on, “So I took those keys into the Yacht Club. They have them. You should go ask for them.”
“Oh no,” I say, “I have already been in there. The woman at the desk said they aren’t there and wouldn’t give me the time of day. Could you please go get the keys for me? If you dropped them off, you know they have to be there somewhere.”
“No,” he answered. “I have to be at work in 3 minutes and I can’t be late.”
I am beside myself with anxiety (which if you think about it, is kind of a quantum idea…I’m freaked out here and in a parallel universe as well). I had no choice but to beg this young man to help me. I hoped I reminded him of his favorite aunt or a childhood pet.
Finally, he said, “Okay,” and drove over to the entrance to the Yacht Club.
The Triple A guy, who heard all this, came around the car with a big “I told you so” smirk on his face. “I guess you don’t need me anymore,” he said, and I knew he was thinking “little lady.” That’s okay, I’m getting my keys back so I just thanked him and signed his paperwork.
Now I was alone in the parking lot again. Five minutes go by. What if the young man doesn’t come back?
No! I draw all things needful!
Ten minutes go by. What parallel universe did he have to go to to get those keys?
Finally, after another few minutes he came back. He had a distraught look on his face and I knew he’d had an encounter with the Snow Princess. He handed me the keys and drove off to the employee parking lot while I was still thanking him. I stood there waving my hand in the air, calling “Thank you, thank you,” feeling like a pilgrim in a John Wayne movie.
I got in my car and put the key in the ignition. Suddenly, I was shaking all over from head to toe. My own personal 3.0 earthquake. Oh my God, I was just in a miracle. A miracle happened right here and I was in it!
Think about this. That young man was in the parking lot at 8:30 in the morning when I “lost” my keys and he was back in the parking lot to return them to me at 4:30 in the afternoon. His timing was impeccable. How did that happen? Okay, at 4:30 he was on his way to work, but why would he have been there at 8:30 am?
Of course, I don’t know the answer and never will. That is why I have decided to think of him as the Angel Who Lives in the Parking Lot of the St. Francis Yacht Club. And I believe that he must also have responsibility for the Marina Green and Crissy Field as well. If you are ever in trouble in any of these places, I am sure he will help you too. Just ask.
* - The Tarot, A key to the Wisdom of the Ages, Dr. Paul F. Case. Published by Builders of the Adytum, 2006.
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