At the time that I met my future husband, new symbolism in my wakeful reality began talking to the symbols in my subconscious mind-body – symbols I had long forgotten. This story is about seeing them, hearing them, and responding to them. That is precisely how I discovered the man of my lifetime, yet spent nearly two years completely unaware that we were quite right for each other.
I met him during one of my visits to St Barths in 2009 when my beau at the time invited me to join a day sail on a friend’s sloop. A small group of people gathered near the port, including my future husband and his current lady friend. We sailed around the island, mesmerized in our merging worlds. Over the next week or so, we spent time together among friends and one day found ourselves alone playing backgammon on the beach at Eden Rock. It was then that he very boldly requested specific details about me, and, having grown comfortable with him, I gave the mystery man my number. Back in the United States, he did call occasionally and we would talk endlessly about Art, History, funny friends, life.
Somewhere in this budding friendship, the mystery man invites the island beau to stay at his apartment in Brooklyn while he is away for the weekend. I go with him. The mystery man had described the view from his apartment and how I could paint a perspective of the Brooklyn Bridge from his Clock window. Impossible to comprehend without entering the mind-body altering space. His description was quite the understatement, upon entering the fortress in the sky frisson overcame me. Impeccable brilliance comforted my system- everything from the tantalizing Clock shadows that danced upon the exposed brick, echoing through the hallway at dusk into the moonlight. Pure magic watching the tick tock of this iconic Clock from the inside out toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Time seems to stop.
Anyone in my generation or older diving deep enough would most likely find a euphoric association to the tick tock of an analog clock. For me- My Albanian Pop-Pop, Nicola Dimitri, was a remarkable Clock maker after his time in the US Navy shipping from secret location to mark maintaining all the submarine periscopes during World War II. One of my most cherished possessions has always been a Clock he created for me made from brass periscope pieces.
Time to depart this mesmerizing space in Brooklyn- I proceed to turn the lights off and go to lock the door- the face of an enamel pin my Godmother made and gave me spontaneously breaks free from the pin connected to my coat and appears to leap through the open doorway back into the flat. Easy enough, I walked back inside- of course I wanted to walk back inside- I proceed to write the mystery man a personal note filled with gratitude letting him know this tiny piece of me wanted to stay, and that it was for him now.
The island beau flies off to the Rock. In the end, that affair is officially a friendship, foiled by its own comical demise-my tangled thorn path was rapidly clearing and the symbols before me were revealing the truth.
I frequently began to see myself transform in my meditations easily forging through a garden beyond the thorns. Work takes me to NYC for an Art Expo in Chelsea. I accept an invitation for dinner with the man behind the Clock. We galavant through copious art galleries and with no forward moves- I continue to remain naive to the possibility of falling in love.
Eventually another February is approaching and the mystery man wants me to join him on the island. I say no! Insisting on dates here in reality, aka Philadelphia and New York. So, in the coldest season, we begin dating. For the first time I truly open my eyes to this mystical man, and more symbols continue to talk. Time together seems endless- the happenstances that connect my past to my present with this genuine gentleman flow like the constancy of the tides, the tick of the Eagle Warehouse Clock- non-stop— in the beginning life together is like a meditative state. Simple synchronicities; the county we were frequenting together in upstate New York, shares the same name as the county in Pennsylvania of my childhood homestead. Weekend warriors training between locations to see each other. My perceptions changed within a moon cycle swiftly, and I accepted them.
In a chat with my Dad on the telephone- he says to me, “Nicole what is going on with you? You have always been happy, but recently you sound so much happier.” My blink response, “Dad, I think it’s this incredible man I’m dating.”
Soon I agree to fly to St Barth to spend time together there, upon one request- that he first flies me to see my family in the Florida Keys, He agrees. Green light, roundabout, green light. Follow the yield signs and merge.
When I land and join him on the water, he asks with zero hesitation “Will you marry me and be my family?” Together after we wed, we nest, at the beloved and magnetic mind-altering Clock, where my enamel pin first jumped in. Interactive imagery connects us at the most curious times in the most unpredictable ways.
This gorgeous nest I have called home for nearly a decade, this love magnet is on the market, albeit I am taking the true magnet, the man Michael Davis with me. As I sit and watch the water from the island now- I know its time to go, the stone sculpture I built upon our arrival stood strong my entire visit until the waves crashed her down this morning, and most astoundingly I was there to watch. The expansive space opening my inward eye from this historic Clock window will never cease as long as I live and breathe.
How do you read the symbolism of your life to lead to the most pleasing path? How do you really clear your path?
- Start by remembering yourself, practice what makes you happy.
- The joys of your past guide you to locate the pleasures of your future.
- Notice the external imagery around you, and take action.
- Define healthful boundaries for yourself, and watch for the open pathways.
- Stay connected to the goodness of people from your life journey, be curious, be open, and know friendships shape shift.
- When symbols stand out to you, ask yourself the reason, ask yourself how you feel, you will be amazed what you begin to reveal.