Personal-growth-journey

Happy Sacred Sunday!

Have you ever had a moment when a series of seemingly unintentional and unrelated events unfold, and you end up experiencing an incredible coincidence that, in hindsight, feels divinely connected?

That, my friend, is a moment of synchronicity.

Back in September, our Five Fingers took a trip to Maine for my cousin’s wedding. If you read these Sacred Sunday emails regularly, you may remember me telling you about that trip.

One of the annoyances of the trip was that my kids were not happy with the flight we had booked to return. Welcome to life with teenagers who have many opinions (cue eye roll). Throughout the weekend, they kept asking if there was any way we could get home earlier since they had school the next day and they like having time to ease into the week. I kept brushing them off and saying, “You’ll be fine.”

But then, on the night before we were leaving, my oldest, Orly, said, “Mom, would it hurt to just check the airline and see if there are any better flights available? If there aren’t, it’s fine. But why couldn’t you at least look?”

That felt like a reasonable request, so I agreed to check, fully expecting not to find anything.

But there it was. One flight. A 6am departure that, even with a layover, would land us in Miami at 11am. (There are no direct flights to Miami from that airport.)

Even I agreed it was a much better option than the one we had, which got us home in the evening and came with a long delay.

I called the airline, and the agent told me that changing our flights would cost about $1000. No thanks. But then she added, “Or you could go standby and get on the flight for free. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it, but you can try.”

“Is the flight full or is there room for us?” I asked.

“There are five seats available right now,” she said. “It’s 11pm, so you just have to hope no one books between now and 6am or gets on the standby list before you.”

Five seats. Exactly. What are the odds?

I hung up, gathered my family for a meeting, and laid out the factors.

We’ll have to wake up at 4am.
We won’t know if we can board until we’re there.
If we don’t get on, we’ll be stuck in the airport for six more hours and still get home in the evening.
If there are delays, we could miss our layover flight and still get home in the evening.

Knowing all of this, do you want to take the risk just to get home early?

My husband and boys agreed unanimously to go for it.

We went straight to bed, and the next morning we were off.

From the moment we got into the Uber at 4:10am, there were several hiccups that could have caused us to miss the flight. The biggest one was that the first flight was severely delayed, which left us with almost no time to make the second.

When we landed, we rushed to the ticket counter only to realize we had gone to the counter for our original booking, which was for a different city. It took a minute for the flight attendant and me to understand what happened. Once he gave us the correct gate, it was on the other side of the Philadelphia airport, which is huge.

We took the tram, ran with our carry-ons, and arrived just as they were closing the flight. The attendant had already thrown our standby boarding passes into the garbage can. We were the last people to board.

It took all of this for me to meet the man who is my guest on today’s podcast.
A man who desperately needed to meet me at that precise moment.
A man whose life had just taken a devastating turn and who was praying for help.

It was an incredible coincidence that Orlando and I landed on the plane this man was on.
Or was it a coincidence?

How many moves, decisions, delays, and nudges did it take for us three to meet?

All I can say is that I don’t have all the answers, but I choose to enjoy the mystery.

If you’re craving a story of hope, synchronicity, and the power of following your intuition, this episode is a must listen. Join me and my new friend Carlos from the airplane as we share a story that can restore your faith in humanity and remind you that grace can find you even in the mess.

Sending you so much love today and everyday,

P.S.  As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to thank you. Thank you for reading these emails each week. Thank you for your replies and letting me know this work matters. Thank you for being the reason I get up every Sunday morning to share these moments of clarity. I love you. 

Happy Sacred Sunday!

A year and a half ago, on an ordinary evening, my husband, three boys and I sat around the living room chatting when I asked my eldest son a rhetorical question that would change our lives. 

As we talked about schools, I turned to Orly and said knowingly,

“But you’re so happy at your school, aren’t you?” 

Orly’s head hung low, his eyes dropping to the floor. “Actually, no. I’m not happy at all.”

That was the beginning of a series of long conversations as Orlando and I tried to understand what was happening with our son. 

At seven, Orly discovered a love for acting, and we quickly realized he had serious talent. We supported him fully and gave him every opportunity to pursue this path. By 4th grade, he left his school to join a magnet theater program (a choice he made for himself). 

One day, he came home with a phone number scribbled on his forearm.

“Mom, I need you to call this talent agency so I can audition.” He pestered me every day until I finally called and submitted his application. A couple of months later, he was in New York signing a contract. At ten years old, Orly was officially a professional actor. He worked hard and had some incredible experiences.

But by fifteen, things had changed.

The more we listened, the more we learned that all he wanted was a “normal” high school experience: a chance to play sports, try new things, and not be defined solely as “the theater kid.”

When I asked him why he didn’t tell us this sooner,  he said, “I felt like this was the path I chose, so iI just had to suck it up.” 

His passion had become his prison.

My husband took Orly by his shoulders and said, “Son, this is your life and you only get one. There will be times in your life when you realize you’re on the wrong bus. That’s when you get off the bus. You don’t get off because the ride is bumpy or hard — you get off when you know you’re going in the wrong direction. Is it time to get off this bus?” (Click here to listen to that podcast episode)

Orly nodded. 

So, we started exploring new options. The following fall, Orly began 10th grade at a private school offering a more diverse and well-rounded experience. He still took advanced theater as an elective, but he also joined the football team, made new friends, and explored interests that didn’t revolve around theater.

It turned out that this well-rounded school, full of extracurricular choices, also had a devoted theater director and many talented students, some of whom Orly already knew from past productions.

Fast forward to today. 

Orly is now seventeen and has found his love for theater once again. 

But it’s a different love. It’s a free love, not a forced one. 

Yesterday I spent the day with Orly at the Highschool Thespian District competition. We had a beautiful day of connecting with the people from his old school as well as enjoying our time with the people from his new school. 

His school took home 3 top honor awards (which means their performance won in their category) which is a huge accomplishment. As I sat

back savoring this part of Orly’s life that I cherished all these years,  I noticed this N2  moment. My heart overflowed with gratitude and sparks of bliss, just to be there with him, and knowing he was truly happy.

When we chose to change Orly’s school, we had no idea what would come next. We didn’t know if he’d walk away from acting altogether. We were letting go of the life we’d known for so many years, unsure of what the future would hold.

And yet, we trusted that changing schools and expanding his focus was right for him now.

So we took the leap—because this moment, right now, is all you truly have.

May this moment of clarity remind you that sometimes getting off the bus doesn’t mean changing your destination completely. 

Sometimes it just means taking a different route, going at a different pace, or finding a bus that better fits who you are becoming.

Living an N2  life requires courage and faith that when you take aligned action in the now, the next right thing will find its way to you. 

And that’s also what this week’s podcast episode is all about.


Thank you always for being here with me each week on this journey of life. I look forward to writing to you every Sunday. 

With love,