THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO Karma or Coincidence? Countdown (Heidi Peach)

If you've read this intro already, by all means, skip right down to the guest post!

As many of you know, THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO, my second novel for young adults officially comes out March 25th from Algonquin Young Readers.

THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO tells the story of almost-16-yr-old Francesca “Beans” “Frankie” Schnell who, four years ago witnessed her baby brother, Simon, drown. Guilty and broken, Francesca has hunkered down in the shadows of her life, resolved to play second fiddle to her dead brother’s memory and to her best friend Lisette, a blonde bubbly beauty Francesca lives vicariously through. That is, until she meets a young boy named Frankie Sky who bears an uncanny resemblance to her brother. Frankie brings humor and hope to Francesca’s life, but are all the similarities between Frankie and Simon merely wishful coincidences, or could he be Simon’s reincarnation?

Curious coincidences abound in THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO —not only the overlaps between Simon and Frankie Sky, but also Bradley’s gift to Francesca, Bradley’s bird sighting, and the ties to the statue of  Saint Florian (sorry, you'll have to read to know what these are ;)). Midway through the story Francesca starts to think these events can’t really all just be coincidences, but maybe are “something bigger and magical at work.”

Have you ever experienced strange events that seemed like more than coincidence and made you wonder if fate was at work or that soul and or reincarnation exist?

Throughout the month, I've decided to pose that question to friends, some writers, others bearing other artistic talents, for a brief account of their own experience with karma, kismet or a mystical connection. I leave you to answer the question, “Karma or coincidence? Random or something more magical at work?” 

I hope you find these stories as intriguing and lovely as I do.

- gae

Me with Heidi at our friend Megan's a book launch
a few years ago.

Today I have dear friend Heidi Peach on my blog. 

Heidi doesn't write, in fact we joke that she's way too pretty to write (Okay, no joke. Clearly she is).

What's she's not too pretty to do is make gorgeous handcrafted items.  

From her whimsical Day of the Dead lanterns,

My Day of the Dead lantern all aglow recently...

to custom-fabric dog beds, and throw pillows, to her coveted, intricately beaded handbags. . .

Here I am modeling my custom hand-beaded MERMAID purse. . .

you can check her Etsy shop, It's a Peach monthly for exciting and wonderful new items.

Are you still reading? WAIT! STOP! ARE YOU CRAZY?  CLICK HERE. Because just this morning she added more of her world-famous* sugar skull handbags and already half of them are gone. No kidding.

Then, when you're done feasting on her beautiful handiwork, here is her lovely story. One about an astrologer and a small wood table.

Years ago I went to an astrologer to have my charts read. All she knew about me at the outset was my name and birthday.

She began my chart reading with my past. She told me a moon had passed and a female member of my family had recently passed away. This was true. My German grandmother, just three months earlier. She was everything to me. I acknowledged to the astrologer that she had passed away.

The astrologer paused and asked if I believed in past lives. I said I was open to all thinking, so she said to me that my grandmother and I were sisters in a past life.  She even said to me, that is why both your names start with an H.  

No, I had not told her my grandmother’s name. 

She told me my grandmother had been my older sister and described the house we lived in, and mentioned a coffee table that we were constantly playing on and sitting at.  

She described the coffee table as round with legs that were a lion’s head at the top of the legs and lions feet at the bottom. It took my breath away. 

That table used to belong to my grandparents, until they gave it to my parents when we moved back to America. It is a unique one of a kind table. 

Me, with the table...

Losing my grandmother was one of the biggest heartbreaks in my life. That moment helped me to believe that she will always be with me no matter what, sitting at the same table, and encouraging me through life.

- Heidi