Today was the annual lunch that our bank hosts. They do two during the day – one in Carthage and one in Neosho, and I think there’s one at night in Joplin. We always go to the lunch in Carthage. At least in Carthage, it’s a catered lunch and usually we have smoked brisket, has brown casserole, green beans, roll and dessert.
You know how I feel about coincidences or things that seem to happen for a reason. One of my greatest “non-coincidence” happenings was many years ago when my nephew passed away in a car accident and Vince was trying to get me a flight to Louisiana and in order to get on the next flight out, the airline wanted some details about the accident. I didn’t have any details yet so I told Vince I would call the Louisiana State Police in Lake Charles and see what I could find out. Vince said “I’ll look up the number for you.” I told him . . I know it. I had worked for attorneys for many years and made many calls to the state police for various reasons. I called and a man answered . . “Louisiana State Police, Troop D, Trooper H******. He is a guy I had gone to high school with, been friends with the entire time I had lived in southwest Louisiana and of all the troopers in that district, he answered the phone. I told him “This is Judy Miller” and before I could say more, he said “I’m so sorry!” and proceeded to tell me a few details about the accident. I told him that Vince needed info to get flights for us to get home and he talked to Vince and gave him the info we needed and said the airline could call him if they needed more info. I’ll never forget that . . any other trooper would not have known me and might have been hesitant to give me info but it sure was nice to be able to talk to a friend.
Back to today . . there was a couple sitting across from us and I asked if they lived in Carthage. She said, no and told me where they live. She said “We moved here from Texas three years ago.” We moved here from Texas about 3-1/2 years ago! We started talking about Texas and here. She doesn’t really like it here. I think she’s a bit older than I am and she hasn’t done well learning her way around. Their daughter lives here; she was happy in Texas but they knew they needed to be closer to the daughter. The man told me what road they live off of . . same road we live off of . . maybe 5 streets down from us. How funny is that.
Then, a couple came and he sat next to me and we were talking. I mentioned Nevada, MO and he said “Did you say Nevada?” Yes. He and his wife had lived in Nevada for many years. I said “I would have moved back to Nevada but Vince didn’t want to.” The wife said “He liked living there but I did not!” He asked what years we were there – 2007 – 2011. They had been there in the 70’s and early 80’s so we weren’t there at the same time.
I thought it was funny – one couple had lived in Texas and one had lived in Nevada – just like us! We got in the car and I asked Vince – how many tables (there were probably over 50 tables, each with 8 chairs) had people who had moved here from Texas or once lived in Nevada . . just like we did?
These kinds of things don’t interest him but I get excited about them.
Lori says
Sounds like a God Wink. ??
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Exactly!
Sheryl says
..This was a great story! I finally was able to resubscribe.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thank you and thank you for sticking with it til you got subscribed.
vivoaks says
Aren’t coincidences amazing? I’m not sure if it’s coincidence, fate, a “God-wink” or what, but I agree with you. I think it’s very interesting and always gives me pause to think. Got my cranberries for my cranberry mustard yesterday, and will be home tomorrow, so it’s on my list to get done!!! 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Let me know how you like it. I saw a recipe today for some kind of jalapeno cranberry jam. If I can find that recipe again, I’m going to make it this week.
Ginny says
I too love things like that, but my husband says do you have to talk to everyone. Perhaps it is because I worked in a bank for 25 years as an Assistant Manager and I spoke to all kinds of people on a daily basis.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Same here. Vince would have sat there for two or three hours and not spoken to anyone unless they asked me a question. I left knowing where they all had worked, how many kids, grandkids they had. If they had pets. If the women knitted or cross stitched. If they liked to cook. If they had a garden! My dad told me that before I was born, he had worked on the pipeline, traveling around a lot. In one place they lived, there as a little girl about 3 and she talked to everyone! Her name was Judy and he said if he ever had a daughter, he was naming her Judy after that friendly little girl. I think it worked! 🙂