Elemental apophenia

My family on my Mom's side, at least a handful of us, are all pretty close, socially as well as geographically. And as some of you know, a lot of negative stuff has been going on throughout the entire family. But here's one weird thing I can't help but comment on.

A few weeks ago, my uncle's car randomly burst into flames. This was followed by even more, worse situations. Shortly after that, while Jo-chan (my aunt and uncle's daughter,) was visiting, the pool collapsed and flooded the christ out of everything in sight, leaving thousands of dollars of damage.

After that disaster--the entire family having had a catastrophic year with no end in sight--Jo-chan and I dejectedly went for pizza and tried to make light of it: the elements were converging to attack us. Next, we joked, it would be air, and then earth. Haha.

Then last night, the wind took down a tree from their neighbor's property. An entire tree, which landed on their outdoor grill, dog run, and chicken coop, wrecking everything.

I'm not some sort of froofy mystic, but I also don't want to be obtuse.



Earthquake, landslide, sinkhole? Or some pestilence that's going to destroy my gardens and groves? Both of my dogs like to eat dirt, as much as I try to stop them; now I'm so paranoid I'm freaking out every time they lower their stupid heads to the ground.

And all of these major disasters have been accompanied by similar, yet smaller ones. My water filter leaks unfixably; my Mom's dishwasher backed up and flooded; a leaking air mattress; mysterious burns on another cousin's hand.

Apophenia is the name of the mental disorder wherein people assign meaning to random occurrences. And I've always been fairly good at following the dots—novelist and all—but this is still pretty weird, right?

Elemental apophenia

My family on my Mom's side, at least a handful of us, are all pretty close, socially as well as geographically. And as some of you know, a lot of negative stuff has been going on throughout the entire family. But here's one weird thing I can't help but comment on.

A few weeks ago, my uncle's car randomly burst into flames. This was followed by even more, worse situations. Shortly after that, while Jo-chan (my aunt and uncle's daughter,) was visiting, the pool collapsed and flooded the christ out of everything in sight, leaving thousands of dollars of damage.

After that disaster--the entire family having had a catastrophic year with no end in sight--Jo-chan and I dejectedly went for pizza and tried to make light of it: the elements were converging to attack us. Next, we joked, it would be air, and then earth. Haha.

Then last night, the wind took down a tree from their neighbor's property. An entire tree, which landed on their outdoor grill, dog run, and chicken coop, wrecking everything.

I'm not some sort of froofy mystic, but I also don't want to be obtuse.



Earthquake, landslide, sinkhole? Or some pestilence that's going to destroy my gardens and groves? Both of my dogs like to eat dirt, as much as I try to stop them; now I'm so paranoid I'm freaking out every time they lower their stupid heads to the ground.

And all of these major disasters have been accompanied by similar, yet smaller ones. My water filter leaks unfixably; my Mom's dishwasher backed up and flooded; a leaking air mattress; mysterious burns on another cousin's hand.

Apophenia is the name of the mental disorder wherein people assign meaning to random occurrences. And I've always been fairly good at following the dots—novelist and all—but this is still pretty weird, right?