Layover in Chicago

May 4th, 2024- 6:00pm (ish) 

​Divine timing catches up to all of us eventually. It slowly moves, rearranging things quietly beneath the surface. The night of the Kentucky Derby was the beginning of this unhurried burn for me. Everything changed the moment I met you. I just wouldn’t know it until two years later. 

​It was at my mother’s annual Kentucky Derby party where our fates intertwined. I was stepping outside to take a picture for the Derby Hat contest. You had just arrived and were coming up the walkway. I pushed open the door, and it was like a portal. Bam, there you were. I can still remember how big your smile was. Did my eyes light up as bright as yours when we first met? Somehow, I know that they did. 

You were warm, engaging, and oh, so easy to talk to. My mom delegated us to print out everyone’s pictures for the contest.

“He works in IT. You guy’s got this.”

And we did. We chatted; we laughed. It was so innocent and carefree. We enjoyed the bonfire at the end of the night. Then you left with your date, and I left with my wedding ring.

May 5th, 2024- 10:00am (ish)

​There were probably ten of us packed into that small diner the next morning for brunch. I was so hungover I could barely drink water. The party had been a success.

Your plan was to eat before you and your date made the drive back to Chicago. My plan, apparently, was to stare at my food until I boarded a plane to fly back to Memphis. Back to normal life.

We were sitting across from each other at the table. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, I could feel your energy, your presence in the room. There was a moment when our eyes met. A brief, shared glance between us that sent electricity through my body. Earthquakes of butterflies shattered my core. My breathing went ragged and I shyly blinked away. I remember it was so powerful it rocked me to my soul.

The atmosphere around us carried on as if nothing happened, and really nothing had. However, the climate of my inner world had intensified. And yet somehow, everything also felt lighter. The only thing I could focus on for the rest of the meal was you and the consuming thought that I had to hug you before you left. Had to touch you. Hold you, if only briefly.

The bill was paid. I boxed up my untouched turkey wrap and we headed toward the door. We all hunkered under the awning in front of the restaurant, exchanging farewells. I can’t remember if it was raining or just a windy, grey day. I clumsily hugged your date first, thinking it would be awkward if I reached straight for you. When we finally embraced, I hugged you with soft, imbued intention. I squeezed your shoulders tight, held on a second longer than normal. Felt your essence and tried to give you mine. 

You drove away and, at that moment, I had no idea if I would ever see you again. We didn’t exchange information. It wasn’t that kind of meeting.

May 2024- May 2026

​Life carries on, as it is wont to do. We fall back into old routines. Days slip by. For two years life continued. I didn’t realize it then, but I was surviving in a cloud, a stifling fog.

​Sometimes, in the quiet, still moments my thoughts drift back to that shared glance between us. I can still feel the magnetic energy that resonated from you. The physical sensations come back to me so viscerally. So real. So fresh. Like no time has passed. Like you are still sitting across from me in that diner.

​I was unable to attend The Derby party in 2025. Had I known then that you were going to be there I would have moved mountains to come. How could I have known?

​For two years you were just a ghost in the back of my mind. I never asked my mom about you- I felt that would be weird. I didn’t even know if you still worked with my stepdad. You were just a stranger that I had met once upon a time. But your presence lingered in a sweet, subtle way that I wasn’t quite fully aware of.

​I didn’t see then what was happening in the background of my own life during those two years. I was in a preparation phase. The dissatisfaction with my marriage, the lack of ambition in my career. These things were being reorganized to fall away. And to fall away swiftly.

May 2nd, 2026- 6:00pm (ish)

​The smell of mint juleps hung in the air. Same annual party. Different house. My parents had moved since 2024.

I was helping my mom get everything ready, setting up the bar and making sweet tea. As soon as I turned the corner of the kitchen your face popped through the front door, like a portal to another timeline. I was blindsided. Blown away in the most beautiful fashion. Euphoria and recognition rushed through my body. 

I hadn’t inquired as to whether you would be there. I had hoped, but I hadn’t asked. You brought a different date this year. I brought the same heavy wedding ring, my husband a non-traveler.

You smiled as big as the first time we met and immediately came over and hugged me. Whispered in my ear, “You made it this year.”

Five simple words. But the way you said them told me everything that I needed to know. I immediately regretted not attending the last derby, but I also knew that you had thought about me, had missed me in my absence.

We found ourselves back on printer duty at the beginning of the party. Same digital printer, different room. We laughed and chatted. I touched your sleeve. I held your drink when you participated in a silly horse race game.

Standing with you, the rest of the crowd faded away. Muted in the background. There was only us. I felt like I was in a bubble with you. I remember briefly wondering if other people could notice it. It was so real, the electricity between us was tangible.

Several hours into the party we separated, found ourselves in different rooms. I could feel a magnetizing energy through the walls, calling me toward you. Pulling me. Every time I tried to walk into the room that you were in my feet had a mind of their own. I kept instinctively walking up the stairs. There was nothing upstairs. I sat on the floor in a room above you and all I could feel was this warm glow, this radiant pull.

Our paths didn’t cross again until near the end of the night. You touched me on the shoulder and told me you were leaving. My heart sank. I thought there would be more time to talk to you. I thought we would have another bonfire. A brunch. But no.

I walked you to the door, my mom and stepdad standing there to say goodnight. You hugged me. And then you drove off with your date. Leaving me standing alone at the same portal you had entered a few brief hours earlier. The house immediately felt hollow without your presence.

May 2nd, 2026- 10:49pm

​Earlier in the evening we had exchanged numbers. Innocently. Almost inadvertently. Your phone was hooked up to the digital printer, and I had to send you a picture to print out. I typed a quick message letting you know it was good to see you and to get home safely. You responded immediately with the same sentiment. My heart was floating.

May 2nd, 2026- 11:11pm

​I was straightening up outside when my phone buzzed again . The moment I saw your name my knees went weak. You asked when I was flying out. I let you know I was leaving the next day. Our conversation continued.

“Detroit to Memphis. Layover in Chicago?”

​​​​​​​​​“I wish..”

​I told you I was just intoxicated enough to be candid and that I had been elated to see you. You told me the same. And then, drunkenly texting you under the stars, I revealed a statement that may have changed the course of our lives in the most wreckingly, beautiful way possible.

​For when two people share a deep, earth-shattering soul connection, the memory lingers. It stays so beautifully on the mind. However, when two people recognize this profound connection, something deeper happens. 

​I sent a message about the shared glance in the diner, about how I still think about it, how it was a beautiful moment. And then I watched as the three dots immediately started typing and you sent back, “I agree. I thought it was my imagination.”

​In that moment a dormant energy started moving inside of me, unlocking ancient codes within my DNA, changing me on a cellular level. And from everything I have studied to try to understand what has happened, it slowly started moving in you too. This recognition was the catalyst for something transformative. Something exposing in a way that shifts focus from everything you once thought mattered. Everything you once thought you knew about yourself.

​But change and growth are rarely comfortable. At the time I could not help but romanticize what was happening. I know better now.

May 3rd, 2026- 8:04pm

​The next evening, on the plane ride home, I typed out a note in my journal. The first time I had felt called to journal in years.

​“The only thing that was missing between Detroit to Memphis was a layover in Chicago. Here I am back home and even though nothing has changed, I have. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But I know the catalyst. And I don’t care about the outcome. It may be nothing. The point may have been just to awaken me. But the soul connection was there, has been there, will be there. I am so grateful to feel alive in this moment. Even if it is fleeting... it is unforgettable.”

May-June 2026

​I languished internally as the days turned into weeks. Drawn into obsessive thinking about you, I scoured every source I could to try to find the meaning of this connection.

​Even in your absence I could still feel you. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. I laid my heart bare in journal entries about an energetic cord that connected us. I didn’t know how I knew the other end was connected to you, I simply knew. Sometimes that is the beauty in a connection so divine. Awareness is simply intuition. 

​Toward the end of June my mother invited me back to Detroit for my stepdad’s upcoming 60th birthday. The first thing that crossed my mind as I accepted was whether you would be there. I didn’t reach out to you right away. I simply hoped that you would. In that quiet, desperate way that one does when they have been longing for the other half of themselves.

July 4th, 9:34am

​I was sitting in bed daydreaming about kissing you when the first powerful wave of energy ripped through me. Divine light and radiant vibrations raced from the bottom of my spine all the way up to my crown and beyond. To say it was exhilarating would be an understatement. It was love, and peace, and bliss, and euphoria all wrapped up together. I let the waves wash over my body. Reveled in it. I could feel the connection to you so vividly.

​I had stumbled across the term “spontaneous kundalini awakening” a week prior, casually scrolling the comment section of a random post online. I guess the universe has a way of bringing us the information we need to know. I was fortunate to have a basis for what was happening. Otherwise, it would have been terrifying.

​The truth of what this spiritual awakening meant in the context of our connection was eye-opening. Not a soul mate. You are my twin flame. A reincarnation of the same soul in two separate bodies. The ultimate mirror. The reflection that, once it has been seen, will tear down every structure in my life that no longer aligns with my truth. This connection will break me before it rebuilds me. 

July 7th, 9:53am

​66 days had passed since we last spoke. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I reached out to you. Just a simple question, asking if you would be at the birthday party. I gave no indication of the spiritual awakening I was going through. No hints about my obsessive thinking and the inner knowing that you were my divine counterpart. I kept it light. 

​You responded that you couldn’t make it, but you wish you could. This quick conversation opened the avenues of communication.

July 10th 1:48pm

​You texted me out of the blue just to see how I was. While we chatted, we tried to find a time in the future we may be able to connect. You had an upcoming trip to Atlanta and were looking for a flight with a layover in Memphis. 

​The logistics didn’t have to make sense. I could tell by your words you were as desperate to see me as I was to see you.

Most of July

​Every day the energy of my kundalini awakening simmered beneath the surface of my skin. I was changing in ways I never thought possible. I was setting boundaries. I was becoming more attuned to who I actually am. I was nurturing my inner child, healing traumas and wounds, and understanding triggers. We only spoke a few times throughout these weeks. I was beginning to understand what this connection was asking of me. 

​I wasn’t being handed divine romance on a silver platter. I was being handed the opportunity to rise above the limitations that I had previously set for myself. The only way true union comes from this level of connection is if both souls are able to look inward and become whole on their own.

​This was a heart-breaking truth I had to accept. I had to heal and so did you. I didn’t even know how strongly you felt our connection. I knew you felt something... but we were practically strangers.

July 28th 11:27am

​I decided to take matters into my own hands. I looked up flights for my upcoming trip in August and found one that had a 5 hour and 18-minute layover in Chicago. I asked if you would be available that day. 

​You said, “Absolutely.” 

​I booked it on the spot.

​Three weeks of waiting. Anticipating. We spoke often during this time, each of us eager to see the other. I also took this time to focus on myself.

​ A spiritual awakening slowly enforces its way into every aspect of your life. Karmic patterns will keep repeating until you address them. I had to enforce boundaries to gain back my independence. Step away from toxic cycles. Root myself in higher vibrations while still staying grounded.

​We discussed how quickly a five-hour layover was going to fly by. I told you I didn’t care what we did, I just wanted to see you.

​

August 18th 10:15am

​My plane landed early at O’Hare. As I waited for you at the airport my excitement felt like a pressurized steam engine ready to blow. I was literally vibrating. You messaged me when you were pulling up to the airport, asking what I was wearing. I was in a blue dress, one especially worn for you. 

​When I saw you again, I almost melted. We hugged and I instinctively kissed your neck, I don’t know why I did that. You simply felt like coming home after being gone for a really, really long time. We drove around for a while, trying to figure out what to do for the short time we had together. I could tell you were as nervous as I was, but at the same time, there was an unprecedented level of comfortability that hung in the air.

​The traffic in Chicago was terrible. There was no point in going into the city. We decided to book a hotel room near the airport just so we could spend time together. This was not a tawdry afternoon affair; this was a remembrance. 

​You were such a gentleman. We kissed but that is as far as it went. For the next few hours, we just held each other and talked. In your arms I felt as though my full body was able to relax. My entire nervous system felt like it could finally exhale after holding its breath for such a long time. You truly felt safe.

​In that moment I knew we’d spent lifetimes together and we’d spent lifetimes searching for one another. Next to you my soul was finally home.

August 18th 3:08pm

​I messaged you when I made it to my gate at the airport. We could have had a little more time together. I thanked you for such a perfect afternoon. You thanked me for coming out of my way to see you. You said I was worth the wait.

September 4th 7:44am

​And still life goes on as it is wont to do. In this moment all I can do is trust in the divine timing that is working beneath the surface. Every day that I continue to work on myself and step into my true alignment is a day that will bring me closer to you. For even though this is not romance delivered on a silver platter, this is still a connection that is meant for me. I simply must become whole within myself so I can hold the unconditional love that this union asks of me. And hopefully that is what you are doing as well.

​