***Are you one who believes that what is to be will be, and if there is a rare
coincidence in life, well what’s to explain? Life, some say, is all previously
planned, and we are only here for the ride.
What are the chances that when you visit a doctor’s office out of town (perhaps
serving a region with about one million people) and upon arrival, the people
lined up behind you to sign in are people you know, all three of them? Having
been seated to fill out necessary forms, in walks a couple you visited with
recently to see (uncoordinated) the same doctor. While filling out the forms,
the couple, mother and daughter, adjacent to you recognize you. The daughter
once taught in a Dillon school. Then having finally completed the forms, you
notice a ‘shopper’ newspaper and decide to scan it. The front page lead article
deals with a Dillon County native. Perhaps in the office at any one time were
maybe 10 people. Of the ten, at one time 9 of them were people you know. How’s
that for a mathematical improbability? That surely took some planning Up There.
*** He is a most senior citizen, with some mobility problems, but that does not
keep him from wanting to “pull his load.” Presently living with family members
and since the death of his wife, he had never been able to rid himself from his
lifelong work ethic. He refuses to give up his independence so when little jobs
come about that he is capable of performing; he is more than willing to assume
that responsibility.
One of his jobs is to collect the eggs laid by the few chickens kept by his son
in law as a kind of hobby, a rather nostalgic affair since he grew up on a farm
and can’t let it go after all these years, so the chickens.
It’s not a very challenging task for Giovanni. The hardest part is walking from
the house to the chicken pen for you see he must use a walker to make, for him,
this somewhat difficult trip.
He follows a routine in his egg collection. He carefully retrieves the eggs
and ordinarily would place them in a basket with a handle which gives him some
security in handling the fragile bounty. But today, he forgets and makes the
trip without the basket and when he collects the eggs, he must improvise so he
uses what he has available, the pocket in his jacket. It would seem to be a
logical place for temporarily storing the eggs until they are taken to the
kitchen. When he finishes his little chore, he has five eggs carefully stored
and he returns home. Of course he has to use both hands and arms to navigate his
walker. He is pleased that he has been able to solve this collection problem
instead of having to return to the house to get the basket. But he did not
anticipate everything.
As he nears the back door to his home, he is greeted by a friend, one who is
much younger than he and with tons of energy. It’s his puppy who looks on the
egg bearer as his true friend, one who throws the ball for him to retrieve and
who speaks to him kindly and pats him on his head. So when he sees his friend,
he greets him appropriately as a puppy would, he jumps onto the mid-section of
his friend and as he does, guess what happens to the eggs?
But he is not punished since his intentions were to greet his playmate with a
friendly, puppy gesture. Too bad he did not know about the five now scrambled
eggs.
Bill Lee
PO Box 128
Hamer, SC 29547
