“Music is Eternal…It tells me what I must do. It is my spiritual direction. It entails the past, is the present, and encompasses the future…It tells me about heaven… It is love… There is no understanding it – just as there is no understanding you, dear Lord.” – Gould Allison
Written in the middle of a night in 1989, my dad so eloquently put into words how I have felt about music.
A friend helped me put together the music videos for the songs I put in my “Playing for Keeps” Playlist. One day I was going through the videos for the first time. “Fight like a Girl” (Kalie Shorr) was first, then Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams” representing my grandfather’s dream for the Colorado River to bring water to Southern California.
When I got to the “Breath of Life” (Florence and the Machine) music video, I was instantly riveted. Powerfully haunting, it took me back to my dad’s birthday on September 8th in the year of his death, 2015. I had never seen the video before. That day, I connected that the song represented the story about my grandmother giving my dad his first breath of life followed by my grandmother taking her last breath of life in the same hospital that my dad was recovering from a punctured spleen.
In the movie, “Snow White and the Huntsman”, the Snow White character captivates me. Young Snow White (Kristen Stewart) represents the quintessential Velvet Glove. She plays a woman with strength, courage and resolve, but most importantly a woman who leads with her heart. Her role epitomizes how a woman should be to be successful in both business and life.
Looking back, in 2008, I remember calling my dad and saying, “I can’t do it”, and he replied, “Do what?” “I can’t take care of you in La Canada and the kids in Huntington Beach.” While I always looked after him, he was always looking after me. Without hesitation, he agreed to move closer to our home. He lived nearby in Huntington Beach for seven more years before he passed in March 2015. Afterwards, I shut the garage door to his paintings both literally and figuratively. It was just too painful to look at all of his artwork.
Fast forward to 2021, it was time to sell his condo. Last month, I opened the garage for the first time since he passed, and saw a melody of colors in his life’s work. I could hear the musicals we played when I was a child, and visualized myself skipping around our La Canada house while my dad was painting. I could hear Russian composer Rachmaninoff as my dad created his masterpieces. I could hear “Rhapsody in Blue” (composed by George Gershwin and known for integrating jazz rhythms with classical music) as he was studying his painting as it hung on the fence.
After I went through dad’s paintings, I went inside his condo. With music as my guide, I could hear the jazz as he sat in his rocking chair. When he was on bed rest, I would sit in the chair and listen to the ducks and waterfalls out the back patio. His condo was his heaven on earth.
And then I could hear the song from “Snow White and the Huntsman”, “Breath of Life.” I realize now that my father was right…”Music is Eternal”. His condo was where he took his last breath of life. The music had brought me full circle.
Today, I wanted to post one of my dad’s calendars. It is Sunday, so I was looking for one where he mentioned God.
Synchronicity has been an integral part of my career, Playing for Keeps book and life story. I “randomly” picked this calendar because it shows his zeal for God. As I was looking closer, I noticed that it said, “Jamie Dr. Wayne Dyer”. I took the calendar and put a yellow border around it. I looked closer…he wrote it on August 8th. I fumbled through my phone, and found that it was 8-8 today. The number 8 is symbolic for eternity. The calendar was from 1992. All of a sudden, I realized today was the 29th anniversary of the flight where Jamie sat next to Wayne Dyer in First Class. Thirteen years later she followed her dream and competed in the World Synchronized Skating Championships (WSSC) in Chapter 15 Team USA2 Elvis. It was where Wayne Dyer and my dad were on the same plane. There are no accidents, there are no coincidences, there is only Synchronicity.
“This is called synchronicity – a state in which you almost feel as if you are in a collaborative arrangement with fate.” – Wayne Dyer.
Last month, I put dad’s condo up for sale. I accepted an offer on the first day. A few days later, I had seller’s remorse. I felt there was something better. I wanted the buyers to have that “I Gotta Have It” feeling. A few days later, it fell out of escrow and I was secretly relieved. Two weeks later, we listed it again. The day before it went on the market, I captured this picture from his backyard. A duck getting ready to fly, with purple (my favorite color) on its wings. I thought huh, that’s a good sign. I could hear my dad say that it was time to fly…reassuring me that it was ok to let go of the condo.
When all was said and done, we found the “gotta have it” buyers. My dad’s condo sold for a record price in the area, 10% higher than the closest comparable unit. It was only fitting for the gem that it was.
The day that I moved all of his paintings out of the garage, I closed the door on a really special chapter of life with my dad. On the other hand, I opened the door for the legacy of his art.
“Music is eternal…It tells me what I must do. It tells me what I must BE. It is my spiritual direction. It is you…
This is your gift to me. Perhaps the greatest gifT you have given me.” – Gould Allison
Now I realize that for me that gift is Synchronicity.