Coincidence, or a God thing?

Then too, I had received a phone call that morning that a colleague, Lori Phillips had been killed in a head-on collision with a semi-truck just east of Kearney. Lori, a single mom age 35, had worked for MID (The Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska) in the past during my tenure as a board member of that organization.

The McCook outreach for MID is Barb Ostrum doing her good work from her office on "C" Street. My plan was to stop by the headquarters and offer our sympathy to the Executive Director Karen Lueck with whom Lori, an attorney, had been particularly close.

The weather Friday afternoon was perfect for a drive, little wind and bright sunshine on a beautiful green Nebraska countryside. Have you noticed the abundance of wildflowers along the byways this year? Stop and smell the roses, it is a great time to be alive in our bit of heaven here in Southwest Nebraska.

We were driving east on Highway 6&34. At the top of a hill, turning from the road just north of Edison, a semi with grain trailer pulled onto the highway headed west. Plenty of time. Then just as I was about to meet that truck some "idiot" pulled around the rig, across the double line, to pass. No problem at that point there was third turn lane so I moved over to the right to give dummy room to meet. He kept coming, as if to come on across the road and pass me on my right. Closure rate was too high for either of us to stop or even slow down. Defensively I drove off the road unto the grassy shoulder to give him both open lanes to fish tail and get squared away. No problem for me down into the ditch and then back upon the highway headed east. I was really tempted to turn around and "educate" the senseless perp that had just tried to kill us but prudence won out and I kept headed east.

A few miles south of Kearney my hazard warning chimed to announce low tire pressure. We pulled over and my tire gauge confirmed low pressure in the front right tire. Must have hit a tire hazard causing a slow leak during our little excursion into the road ditch.

After stopping to see Karen, I was directed to the Graham Tire store by the dispatcher at MID's RYDE program. The superb staff at Graham found the leaking valve stem so I directed a tire rotation and replacement of all four valve stems.

During the wait for repair I encouraged Ann to call her friend Sandra. We were concerned because Sandra had recently had a biopsy on a suspicious lump on her neck and Friday was the day she was to find out benign or cancerous.

Sandra joined us in the waiting room and gave the diagnosis as the big C! Super attitude, though, as she has steeled herself to beat it with chemo and radiation.

The two ladies then went across the street to Applebee's to order dinner (when I was a farmer we called it supper)! Repairs completed, I slipped a tip to the young man who had fixed my problem. Then a most pleasant surprise when the shop manager wished me a good weekend, a safe trip and no charge. What a wonderful surprise! Talk about good customer relations! You think I'll be back?

Dinner with our newly diagnosed RN friend went well. Particularly telling was her comment that she was sorry for our little earlier incident but that if Ann hadn't called she would have just gone home alone and cried to herself all evening. Nothing like a coincidence to put us in the right place at the right time. Coincidence, heck, I am convinced that it was a God thing.