Fateful Encounters

Fateful Encounters

by Cheryl Lakes

Do you believe in Fate?  Have you ever had a strange feeling that something was about to happen and it did?  Or have you ever felt drawn by some strange force to do something out of the ordinary that was difficult to explain?  Has anyone ever predicted that something would happen to you and it did?   Well, for some, these occurrences have been very real and there are those who believe that Fate has its way of fulfilling its purpose by letting “a chosen few” in on it before it happens.

Jackie: Atlanta

“While dressing one evening to go to a party with a guy I’d been seeing awhile, I suddenly lost the urge to go.  I attributed my sudden lack of motivation to my feelings about my date.  He did not meet my criteria for serious company but served the basic need of companionship.  A party with him meant being shadowed all night, which did not hold great appeal for me.   However, when I reached for the phone to cancel the evening, my mood suddenly changed.  I not only wanted to go to the party, but I felt the strangest urge to wear my favorite dress. As soon as I finished dressing, the phone rang.

“It was my date calling to cancel because he was ill.  Since I was fully dressed, I decided to go alone to a popular club and enjoy the evening anyway. As I reached for my coat, the doorbell rang.  It was my brother who had a habit of popping up without calling.  I was all set to lose patience with him until I caught sight of the guy with him.  He was so strikingly handsome that my words stuck in my throat.  He turned out to be my brother’s new friend from work and my husband-to-be.  When we got engaged last month, he told me that as long as he lives, he’ll never forget the dress I was wearing when we met.”

Suzanne: Chicago

“I was sitting in my car one night at a light on my way home from work when a stranger appeared out of nowhere and tapped on the passenger window.  He asked if I had a jack because he had a flat tire.  Frightened by all the news accounts of horrible things happening on the streets to unsuspecting drivers, I pressed hard on the accelerator and sped off down the street.  As I glanced in the rearview mirror, I saw a look of pure anguish on his face.

“Suddenly, like a lightning bolt, I could hear the words of my Aunt Sibley, as if she were in the car with me.  At a family reunion last year, she had gently said to me in a mystic way, ‘Honey, when you do meet your husband, you’ll be frightened at first, but you will quickly find that you have nothing to fear.”  Suddenly, my fear left as it had come and I turned my car around in the middle of the street as if drawn by some magnet.

When I pulled up to his car, I saw the flat and gave him my tire jack.  It turned out that he was an off-duty policeman whose tire had blown out on the freeway and his phone was dead.  When he smiled and thanked me for coming back, I looked into his gorgeous eyes and knew we were supposed to meet on that fateful night.   Six months later, he asked me to marry him on top of a Ferris wheel at a Six Flags amusement park.”

Kelly: Milwaukee

“One night I was sitting in the car with a guy I’d been involved with for two years and out of the blue, he told me he couldn’t see me anymore.  He said he was going away to make a needed change in his life.  I was so stunned, I couldn’t speak.  I almost choked at the thought of him leaving my life forever.  I felt shattered inside and lost without direction.  I had always hoped that we would be married and I knew our families felt the same way.

“But suddenly, as he continued to talk of his plans and his future, which didn’t include me, a peace I could never explain, came over me.  Suddenly, my anger dissolved and my spirit began to lift.  I had a peace that seemed to reassure me that though he was leaving, he would be back.  I knew that in spite of what he was saying, I was to wait for him. When I got out of his car, I felt bewildered but calm.  He left and returned eighteen months later and told me how unbearable it was to be without me.  Then he pulled out a ring and asked me to be his wife.”