Mystical Surprise in the Old Gothic Quarter of Barcelona
 I am always amazed and delighted by the coincidences, synchronicity, and pure magic I encounter in everyday life. My belief is that it happens to anyone who is open to recognize such events. Some people feel that these are messages from God to let you know he is there. I have come to believe that they are provided by some force in the universe to help us deal with problems that also have been provided by, most probably, the same force for us to work on. We are all players in a highly advanced computer program in operation and such events are the work of a kind of programmer who is constantly programming our environment for us to interact with. Call it God if you like. On a vacation in Barcelona, Spain I was presented with such events on both sides and in the middle. Many of them, like the following, are so absurdly improbable that it is really difficult to explain them as coincidences.

Pauline, Colin, and Alison, and I had split up to explore and shop in the old Gothic quarter of Barcelona and we agreed to reunite in one hour for coffee in a shop near our starting point. After thoroughly enjoying myself by simply wandering the streets, inspecting the architecture, and window shopping, I rejoined the group. Sipping coffee in the coffee shop, everyone but me had recently acquired treasures to show off.  When everyone looked quizzingly at me, I commented that while I liked looking in all the shops I had not seen anything I would want to purchase. Alison then informed me that I must buy something before leaving so we should go out again even if just for a few minutes. I supposed that she had seen something that she wanted to go back for, and I answered her challenge by jokingly commenting that I would buy some nice holograms if they showed up during my next foray. This brought on a good laugh and reply in unison from the group “YEAH, RIGHT! A hologram shop right here in the Old Gothic Quarter”.

Leaving the coffee shop in the direction opposite to the one I had previously taken, I encountered a square named St. Jaume Square (Catalonian for my name, James). Leading away from it among another half dozen streets was Calle St. Jaume, which I chose to walk because it was named after me. As it could only happen to me, the first store on the street at Jaume 1 is Museu D’Holographia-Barcelona, a tiny little hologram shop. I looked up to the sky and said “God, you really enjoy doing this kind of stuff to me, don’t you"? When I reunited with the group a few minutes later they were all stunned when I showed them my newly acquired holograms.

I occasionally wonder if it will still be there the next time I return or has it been deleted from the program and replaced with something needed for someone else to experience.