For most of my life I did not believe in reincarnation. As a man of science, I found it cute and amusing. Then, as I grew older, it began to fascinate me. Now, I do believe. It is the only possible explanation for some things.

The night I met my wife Vicki at a World Affairs Council wine tasting, we spoke for perhaps 90 seconds and exchanged business cards. She declined my offer of dinner, as she was meeting her girlfriend Melody. Thirty years later, I asked Melody if she remembered that night. “Of course I do. She wafted in on a cloud, and said, ‘I just met the most wonderful man.’ ” I wrote Vicki every day, literally, while I was in Oregon for nine months. And the rest, as they say, is history. Now I know, I don’t think, I know; this isn’t our first rodeo.

For years people have been telling me about the idea of a Soul Connection. It’s the same cast of characters in every life; you just switch roles. Now I believe that. I can’t wait to see, even though I won’t remember, which role I get next time. I should have known role-switching was the meaning of my recurring childhood dream that I had been a woman.