by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Well, I’m going to mention that poem again because something rather astounding showed up. My twin sister, who lives across the country, phoned after she read my post online, to tell me that one of her friends had sent the same poem to her almost a year ago. The friend also used the phrase, “This poem made me think of you.”

My sister and I have lived apart for a long while and know few of the same people. Beth, whose first career was in tennis, now works as an animal communicator, a waitress and a singer.

We didn’t bother trying to explain the phenomenon (twins rarely need to), but we did both pause and sigh into the phone. Like everyone else, we’ve struggled on our separate paths but it appears that somehow we have found a common voice - one that says, though the world is full of “bad advice” and the wind blows, we know what we have to do to go deeper into the world.

Listen closely and you’ll hear a voice that you recognize as your own. Find meaning and inspiration in and outside yourself, because, in the end, it is the same thing.