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CHAPTER ONE:
GYPSY PROPHECY
Written by Rick
and Marla Archer
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Rick Archer's Note:
"If you take this journey, you will meet the man
with whom you will spend the rest of your life.
Not only that, you already know him."
-- The Gypsy Prophecy
This is
the true story of how I met my wife Marla. The
main reason I have written Gypsy Prophecy
is to share the unusual experiences that led me to believe
our marriage was a Fated Event. As has been
the case in my previous books, several events
in this story will raise the possibility of
Supernatural involvement.
Readers familiar with the concept known as
"Godwink"
will know immediately what I am talking about.
"Godwink" is defined as an event or personal
experience, often identified as Coincidence, which
is so astonishing that it is often interpreted as a
sign of Divine Intervention.
That is
not to say my conclusions are correct. Rather
than tell you what to believe, I
prefer to invite my Readers to examine the
mysteries and draw your own conclusions.
Every story
in this book is the absolute truth as I know it.
No falsehoods, no fibs, no exaggerations.
I will
tell you what I saw, I will tell you what ran
through my mind at the time, I will share why I
suspect my relationship with Marla was predestined.
After
that, I will leave it up to you to decide what you wish to believe.
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Romance
and Weddings played a major role in my career.
In the
late Seventies, I created a Houston dance
studio named
SSQQ (Slow Slow Quick Quick).
SSQQ was so successful, I was able to carve out a 32
year career as a teacher and studio owner. We taught social dancing such as Ballroom, Swing,
Latin and Country-Western. At its peak, 1,400 people a week walked
through our doors, a fairly remarkable total. Along
the way I helped build a thriving Houston dance community
kept intact by a network of close
friendships.
SSQQ was
the largest dance studio in Houston for three
decades. Over the years, somewhere between
350,000 to 400,000 students
took lessons. At the turn of the century
when this story took place, I believe SSQQ was the largest
independent dance studio in the United States.
SSQQ was a pretty wonderful place
if I may say so. Right from the
outset SSQQ was an amazing hotbed of romantic
activity. It seems the moment a man learned how to
properly place a woman in his arms, his charm
increased dramatically. Since women love to be
held, the combination of dance music and a
journey across the floor represented
an irresistible magic.
Assuming
a man has just met an attractive lady he does not
know, asking her to dance is the fastest polite way
to get her in his arms. In the ancient days
before the Internet, I saw this idea proven correct
time after time. (Hint: it is still true
today). With a legion of energetic dancers
meeting one partner after another in dance class, my
studio became Cupid's playground. Given a wide
range of choices, people could pick the one they
liked, then let the potent dance chemistry go to
work. Once the spark was lit, countless love
affairs were spawned, many of which evolved into
serious relationships. For this reason I made 'Slow Dance leads to Romance'
our studio's motto. I never tired of repeating the phrase.
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From:
Bob Graham
Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2010 10:10 PM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: slow dance and romance
Hi Rick,
Just a note to let you know that your studio's slow dance
and romance has struck again. Ana and I were married
on Saturday, March 27th 2010.
Also thanks for another great Halloween party. By the
way, you guessed right early in the evening that was Ana in
the horrible monster costume. Strangely, she didn't think
you would guess who she was. You ruined her night, but Ana
still loves you anyway. You may have been curious who
the other monster was. That was Ana's sister Sylvia.
Best regards,
Bob and Ana
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Bob and
Ana's March 2010 ceremony marked the final
accomplishment of the famous SSQQ Wedding Factory. Over the years,
SSQQ had developed a well-deserved reputation as
perhaps the best place in Houston to find a
boyfriend or girlfriend. As one can gather,
many of these romances had led to the altar.
Bob and Ana's marriage served
as the Exclamation Point to the studio's remarkable
legacy.
I have
reason to believe that over a
period of 32 years, SSQQ created 400 marriages, an
average one new
wedding per month. Think about it. How
many institutions can make a claim like that? I had known since the beginning of
my career there were serious romantic vibes
floating around my dance program. I heard
about marriages, but never thought to keep
track. That changed with the dawn of the
Internet. That is when people like Bob Graham
began sending me wedding announcements via email.
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Email
and Internet emerged as a force shortly
before the Millennium. After the SSQQ website came
on line at the end of 1998,
1999
became the first
full year of the SSQQ
Email Newsletter.
Similar to Bob Graham's thoughtful note, students would email with the
good news they had just gotten
married or engaged. However,
not everyone checked in. Not a problem. I was
fortunate to have tattle-tales who
dutifully reported the wedding
of a couple they knew through
SSQQ. I
would turn around and add the happy news to my
monthly Email
Newsletter.
One day someone wrote to say they were
having trouble finding a Newsletter story. As well
they should. The Newsletter was scattered
through roughly 24 different
web pages. Rather than
force people to search through all these individual
pages, I decided to put the entire year on one web page.
Shortly before the Millennium New Year, I
combined all the various
issues of the 1999 SSQQ Newsletter
into
a
single spot.
By coincidence, I
had just received two additional wedding notices
over the past week. Smiling, it crossed my
mind that Cupid had been busy over the past year.
This is what brought my attention to the subject of
SSQQ weddings.
As I collected
stories from the individual
months, I noticed
a flurry of wedding
notices. Just for the fun of it, I
added up all the weddings and
engagements.
16 Weddings!!
10 Engagements!! Of course I had nothing to compare this number to,
but I could not help but
feel a sense of awe.
Two couples a month were getting
married or engaged
thanks to my
dance studio!!
Awestruck by this
phenomenal total,
for the first time I began to think of my studio as
some sort of 'Wedding Factory'.
That was the moment my little heart
went pitter-patter with pride.
I had known the studio was
prolific for a long time, but not quite to this
extent. This
was my 'Walking
with Destiny' moment, a reference to the famous
Winston Churchill quote. Following a checkered career
which included many failures, Churchill had just
been chosen to
confront the Nazi menace.
"To each there comes in their lifetime a special
moment when they are figuratively tapped on the
shoulder and offered the chance to do a very
special thing, unique to them and fitted to
their talents. What a tragedy if that
moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for
that which could have been their Finest Hour.
I felt as if I were walking with Destiny, and
that all my past life had been but a preparation
for this hour and for this trial... I thought I
knew a good deal about it all. I was sure I
should not fail."
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After I
calmed down, I
asked myself if this 1999 Wedding List was a one-time phenomenon.
I did not think so. In my heart, I believed this incredible
demonstration of the studio's good will had taken
place throughout my career. But why leave it as
a hunch? Now that I had been handed such an easy way to
keep track, over the next ten years I kept a running
tally on the website for everyone to see.
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As
the years rolled by, the average of one new marriage
per month remained the
same. Bob and Ana's March 2010 wedding was
Number 166. 166 marriages over an
11 year span, 15 per year.
Extrapolated over
a 32 year career, I estimated a grand total
somewhere around 400 weddings.
I doubt seriously there are very many institutions
that can make a claim like that. For this
reason, I believe SSQQ was the closest thing to a 'Wedding
Factory' ever designed. Which raises a
question. Who gets the credit? Did Rick
Archer 'design' the studio? If one's
view of the Universe tends to be 'Reality-oriented',
most people would give me the credit. If one's
view of the Universe includes the existence of a
higher power, the abundant good will inherent in the
wedding phenomenon suggests the
studio was blessed by God.
If you ask what I think, I
give credit to God.
Which is a very serious claim.
Do I expect my Readers to accept this claim on
Faith? No. Gypsy Prophecy
is about Fate, the development of events beyond a
person's control, regarded as determined by a
supernatural power. The word 'Supernatural'
should be your first clue this is NOT your normal
book. People make vague references to Fate all
the time, but have you ever read a book that
attempts to PROVE the existence of Fate?
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The problem with writing a
book about paranormal phenomena such as Divine
Intervention or Predestination is our natural
skepticism. There are those who believe "Coincidence
is God's way of remaining anonymous." Oh
really? Most people require firmer evidence
than a mere coincidence.
We all know there is no
scientific way to validate the existence of Fate or
God. However, I contend this book will present
a powerful case built on 'Circumstantial Evidence'
to give serious thought to my claim. I present
the SSQQ Wedding Factory as Exhibit One. I
present the likelihood that my marriage to Marla was
'Predestined' as Exhibit Two.
But here is the problem.
Unlike Exhibit One, the concept that our marriage
was a Fated Event cannot be reduced to simple
statistical analysis. The concept of Fate is
far too extreme to be explained in a brief paragraph
or two. It requires a Book to build a slow,
but steady explanation for why Marla and I believe
our Cinderella-style Fairy Tale was 'Pre-arranged.'
So why do I share this
information in advance?
I would imagine many Readers
expect this to be a story about Romance. Yes,
that is true. What most Readers will not
expect is that this story is also being used to present a
compelling argument for the existence of Fate.
I think my Readers deserve to know my objective
ahead of time. If the subject of Fate
interests you, then let us proceed.
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Gypsy Prophecy
is my fourth book.
A
Simple Act of Kindness covers the immense
problems I faced throughout childhood, high school,
college, and graduate school. In particular, I
explain how the kindness of several key
individuals enabled me to overcome the serious
emotional handicaps caused by my tough childhood.
Hidden Hand of God tells the exact same stories
as my first book, but with an asterisk.
When I wrote my first book, I was reluctant
to share my secret belief that credit for surviving
my rough childhood was due largely to Divine
Intervention. Considering the magnitude of
this claim, I doubted anyone would believe me, so I
kept quiet. However, upon retirement I
decided to rewrite A
Simple Act of Kindness to explain why 40
coincidences, weird events and lucky breaks led to
my belief in Fate
and the existence of God.
Magic Carpet Ride picks up where
Hidden Hand left off. It covers a
seven year span
(1978-1984) which reveals how a series of uncanny lucky
breaks created SSQQ, the dance studio
which became my life work. Covering 60
additional Supernatural Events, my belief in Fate became unshakeable.
With my
List of suspected Supernatural Events poised at 100,
the weird stuff disappeared. My Supernatural
dry spell began the moment the studio's future was
guaranteed (1983), probably because God decided I no
longer required Divine Intervention to succeed.
You may think I am teasing, but that is actually how
I felt. Over the next 17 years, I was
so busy I barely noticed my life was actually kind
of normal for a change. I ran the studio,
got married and raised my daughter.
Following a rocky period in our marriage, on Christmas Eve
2000 my
wife asked for a divorce.
And that is where
Gypsy Prophecy begins.
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