“Synchronicity is where God stays anonymous” – Albert Einstein
Since the mid-70s, when people heard my name, they asked if I knew Bill Guggenheim. He was the grandson of Peggy Guggenheim, who assigned Bill, a Metaphysician-Philanthrapist, to head the Guggenheim Museum’s Foundation.
Although we never met, Bill and I were acquainted with many of the same people who knew us both.
In the early 1980s, I taught Metaphysics at the Incredible Journey Bookstore in Clearwater, Florida. I borrowed a book about the Guggenheims at the library, hoping to learn more about him.
When Jim, my ex-boyfriend, came home, I reached for the book. It fell open at my feet on the page about Bill.
Elated, I looked at Jim and exclaimed, “This is the week I am going to meet him.” Jim retorted, “There you go again with your predictions.”
That Friday, we went to a fundraising event for Biafra. Bill was the philanthropist who sponsored the event through a local church.
When I found him, I introduced myself to him. He calmly said, “Yeah, yeah, you know how many times I’ve heard that.?”
I took out my business card with a soaring seagull logo on it. As I presented it to him, I said, “Here is my name and number. If you want to call, then call. If not, have a good life!” I stomped off.
Suddenly, I heard him call out to me, “Oh, Miss! Miss!” And as I turned around, I saw his necklace cupped in his palm. “You’re right” he said. “We need to talk.”
The charm on his necklace had the identical soaring seagull that was on my card. Only his was his family crest.
I do not have enough space to write about all the synchronicities that occurred, but I can tell you that at dinner, we found out that we are possibly distant relatives. However, Bill was brought up anti-Semitic, and I am Jewish.
When he told his 91-year-old mother, she changed her Will, asking to be put to rest in the Jewish Guggenheim’s mausoleum in case she was wrong. I do not know whether this happened since she had a family burial plot in Pennsylvania with her husband and sons on their land, but we had a good laugh.
