Monday, October 20, 2014

Connections and Coincidence

Courtesy PDPhoto.org
Don’t you just love life and all its twists and turns? Today I find myself seated at a familiar booth in Johnny’s, munching a slice of pizza and indulging a Coke addiction that, when I take it out to look, has its roots in this town, the town that Asa Candler was born in and left: thirty-five miles and aeons west of Atlanta, in the rolling hills of northwest Georgia.

It molded him, this place, nurtured him until he could strike out for the big city to meet Pemberton and build an empire that still dominates the world. When I think about Peace Makers (a novel that’s been in-process for the last four years) in this context, I get goose bumps. Much of it has been written just blocks from where he would've lived. Will I, like Asa, have to leave to find my happy ending?

Oddly enough, there are other connections. By happenstance, the novel is set in Druid Hills, an Atlanta community that Candler helped build, featuring tree-lined streets and delightful linear parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Emory University, to which the Coke magnate donated land and monies is the backdrop for at least one chapter and rates mention in several others. The Candler Building, a marvel of fantastical design, appears as the locale for another scene in downtown Atlanta.

Mere coincidence? A twist of fate? Maybe. But maybe not. Whatever the answer, it's something to ponder on a fine day in October in these red-clay hills of Georgia.
October 18, 2014
~ Olivia J. Herrell

1 comment:

Arlee Bird said...

LIfe is such an intricate tapestry of interwoven threads that lives and events are bound to intersect even though we probably even aren't aware of it most of the time. With internet, media, and facilitated travel we become even more interconnected. When one takes some moments to contemplate such things such as you did, one can start to see the connectivity of everything from beginning to end. Kind of like that Butterfly Effect concept.

I don't think it's a matter of coincidence, fate, or anything random. It's probably more closely related to mathematics or something of that nature. I'm convinced that there's a formula out there that can give us all the answers if we were smart enough to figure it out.

Good to visit you again. It's been a while.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...