As we go through life lots of unusual happenings occur. Probably, at the time they happen we dust them off, attribute them as just a blip in the circle we call life. I tend to pay attention and to believe most unusual happenings have a reason for occurring.

In one week several things occurred that led me to ask the question of “what are the odds of these happenings?” Maybe you will dismiss those as normal but I’ll let you discern what are the odds of letting these happenings be unique.

How about this one which occurred one cold day last week. As I was walking to my car in the Dollar Tree parking lot, another woman was also there, and we both were at our cars when she said, “I’m so sick of this cold but it’s sure better than living in Minnesota.” Well, anytime I hear Minnesota I perk right up so I said, “Are you from Minnesota?” and she said, “Yes but you probably never heard of my hometown.” I then replied, “I’m from Sauk Centre (a town of 3,000).” She said, “So am I.”

Those comments then led us to learn she was of the Ray Winters clan and I filled her in on my Beste clan. We then found we both were good friends with Bea Zehre,r our farm neighbor. Of course we intend to keep in touch and all because of a chance comment in a parking lot a few blocks from my residence.

What next

The next happening that week was also another “what are the odds” happenstance.

First of all I have to start by saying I grew up a Catholic and praying to the saints was commonplace. It was the thing to do when something was lost was to send a message on to Saint Anthony (we called him Tony). Tony was the patron saint of lost items. The prayer went like this, “Tony, Tony, look around, somethings lost and must be found.”

One day when my Bob went for his hearing aid it wasn’t there. For several hours we searched every inch of the house to no avail. Finally we resigned ourselves that we will have to get another one, and we went on to do errands. While standing near several other customers one of them overheard our lament about that lost hearing aid.

He said, “I was also raised Catholic and my parents always prayed to Saint Anthony when something was lost.” He stated he was going to pray to Saint Anthony to find the hearing aid. With that we parted and the day went by with no luck.

About 8:30 p.m. our Katey, knowing how distraught we were said, “mom search the bathroom again.” So I did and guess what, down on the bathroom scale between the vanity and bathtub was the hearing aid. Was that a Saint Anthony find? Who knows, but we do know we were eternally grateful for finding a $3,000 item. A big thank you to Ralph for the prayer.

One more

The last one was a recipe for hashbrowns that I served at a dinner for our treasured friend “Mac.” Mac’s wife Moggie passed away several years ago and Mac has dinner frequently with us. I made that hashbrown casserole for the first time for Mac. He loved it and I went to get the recipe. To my surprise it said, “From the kitchen of Moggie.” Now you tell me that wasn’t a serendipity happening and that Moggie wasn’t at that dinner table.

And all of these lends credence to my believing in a plan that just maybe has been out of our control but definitely has someone shuffling the cards.

Stay well, stay involved and stay tuned...