Was it coincidence? By Linda Stowe
So often we have moments that might have created significant problems in our lives. If they do create the problem, we remember them one way. But if some turn of events averts disaster, the incident is either forgotten or tucked away as an amusing anecdote. Even so, each time we think about it, we feel a small shiver over what might have happened.
Last summer the transit van brought me home from a medical appointment. As usual, the driver pulled into my empty garage and wheeled me out. The drivers are trained to get the client safely into the house before they depart. Still, I pride myself on being self-sufficient and rarely ask for help beyond what I truly need. I prefer to send them on their way, close the garage door, and manage the rest myself.
That day I had a new driver who was determined to follow protocol. I explained that if he took me into the house, I would not be able to shut the garage door because the button was mounted in the garage, outside the interior door. He stood firm. Finally, I acquiesced.
To our surprise, the door into my house was locked. It is never locked—or so I thought. It’s a rather crude latch that can be set only from the inside. Apparently, the Spectrum serviceman who had visited the day before had flipped it without mentioning it.
Fortunately, I had a house key in my wallet. The driver used it to go around to the front door, enter the house, and come through to open the latched door from the inside. If he had yielded to my wishes and just left me in the garage, I would have been stranded in my own garage with no way to equip myself to solve the problem.
Was it coincidence? Fate? A stroke of luck? A fluke? Whatever we call it, I still shiver when I think about how differently the day might have turned out. No one did anything wrong, yet things could have gone terribly awry. It was a powerful lesson about listening, about pride, and about realizing that something as simple as a latch can set the stage for something far more serious.
Wordle guess words: about, equip, crude, fluke
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Polly here.
I love this story. Every word of it. I like to believe in serendipity and providence and all such things. I do believe that energy works in such a way that when we are in “tune” with it, we can follow the path of least resistance. Or something like that.
I think so many times we never know how lucky we are. Or fortunate. Or given.
