Strange Encounter

I was coming home from work one night last week when I met a woman with three kids at the train station. She was talking to a couple that were waiting for the same train that I would take to get home. She was asking them what they knew about the nighttime transit schedule. She and her children had ridden a bus to the area to take care of something, not realizing that the routes and schedules all change after 6:30 p.m. Consequently, the bus she had taken to get there was no longer running, and she had no idea how they were going to get home.

I overheard the conversation and asked her where she needed to go. I habitually carry a stack of bus and train schedules in my backpack, so I figured the chances were good that I could be of at least some help. She told me where she needed to go. As it turned out, I was headed for a stop just past that on the same route. I told her where I was going and suggested that if she (and the kids, of course) would follow me, I would get them where they needed to go. I don't know if there's a word that means 'a combination of relieved and ecstatic', but if there is, that's what she was.

So we got on the train and rode downtown, then got off and walked the block or so to the appropriate bus stop. The kids were pretty amazed when I correctly predicted the arrival of the bus we needed to get on. We all took up seats at the back of the bus and continued on our journey.

The lady and I had started talking, and she had asked me where I worked. I told her, and she knew exactly what I was talking about. It seems that she went to college with the owner of the company I work for. I also mentioned that I was finishing up my degree, and she asked me what I was studying. I told her that I was a chemistry major looking to teach high school this time next year.

Then she told me what she does for a living: she's a professional recruiter. Furthermore, her ex-husband - with whom she's apparently still on pretty good terms - is the vice-principal at a high school here in Salt Lake City. She gave me her phone number and told me to call her, and she would start setting up some connections for me.

If you wish, you may call this a happy coincidence. But I don't believe in coincidence. It has been my experience that every once in a while, God will bring two people together who need to meet one another.

On the following evening, I was telling one of my managers, Theron, about this experience. As I made this last point Greg, one of our callers (and a frequent contributor to right-wing political site called Conservababes), walked in. He said, "So, you don't believe in free agency?" Before I could answer, Theron, who is a thespian and a philosopher, replied, "Free agency is what you make of those opportunities." I agreed, adding, "It's also what you do get those opportunities in the first place."

That night had been a little hectic; I had been called upon to serve as Overlord again. Having temps in house always adds to my workload, and it makes it difficult to get out of the building on time. I could have chosen to take things a little easy that night, taking a little extra time to finish my job duties. Frankly, it would have been easier that way. But if I had, I wouldn't have been in time for that train.

Lesson: You can't always choose your circumstances, but how you choose to react may make all the difference.