So, first read this news story.
I never watch local news, but randomly saw this "EDMOND MAN ACCUSED OF COMMANDING PITT BULL TO ATTACK GIRLFRIEND" story come on after a television show and thought about it a longtime afterward: like wait, hold on, a random driver just picked this woman up? Wow, that's really lucky.
Then I go get coffee with one of my best friends Beth (who just got married this August), and she's like, "Kate, the craziest thing happened to me the other day."
She and her sister were just driving in a neighborhood when they saw a shirtless, bloody man and woman being attacked by a pit bull.
They stopped the car to call 911 when suddenly the woman started running towards them with the pit bull at her heels. Beth said she didn't even have to think about it, the look in the woman's eyes made her automatically open the car door.
Once inside, the woman begged them to drive away, because her boyfriend was trying to kill her. She then thought she saw him getting in his car to come after them.
The 911 dispatcher asked if the boyfriend had any weapons on him, to which the woman (barely conscious at this point, Beth said she must have been operating on pure adrenaline because she was so badly injured) answered that he had a gun, but also always carried a knife. Needless to say they were scared out of their wits.
When they safely met the police, firefighters, and paramedics at a nearby bank parking lot - having to carry the woman out of the car - none of the responders could believe that Beth and her sister weren't related to the woman in some capacity, instead absolute strangers.
Later, investigators told Beth that she had basically saved the woman's life.
Apparently she'd been beaten for hours before - maybe even days (facts are still fuzzy - also, please note that this is a story based on my own remembrances from a conversation Beth telling me over coffee and is in no way conclusive of the man's actual guilt).
Moral of the story is:
Of all the news stories to catch, I caught this one and dwelled on that random driver and the mysteries of fate well after the 60 second sound bite
& then the random driver turns out to be one of the most kind, loving, and selfless people I know:
heroes/random acts/courage/fortune/providence/etc are real! So take that into your new year.
