By Gary Dickson —
Please excuse the absence of my column over the last few weeks. My mother became ill and I made a few trips back to Wichita, Kansas to be with her. Unfortunately, she was not able to overcome her illness and passed away on Dec. 9. She was a wonderful mother who always worried about the comfort and joy of everyone else more than her own.
Since today is Christmas Eve, which for many, evokes thoughts of miracles of one kind or another, whether it be the birth of Jesus or, for children, tonight”s trip by Santa Claus, I thought I would tell you about an amazing coincidence that occurred to me while I was in Kansas for my mother”s funeral service.
Due to the travel I had not had a haircut in a while and I thought that I should get one before the funeral service. My mother was always a stickler for neatness and good grooming habits. My wife and oldest daughter needed something from the mall, so I told them I would drive them there and see if I could get a haircut in the styling salon inside J.C. Penney. Being that it was Monday, all the regular barber shops were closed.
The nice lady at the front counter said I was in luck because she had a stylist with an immediate opening. The young lady came over and escorted me to the chair where she worked. I quickly noticed that she had a roller derby photograph on the counter next to her chair. I asked her if she was on a team and she said that she was a member of the Wichita roller derby team, the ICT Roller Girls. ICT is the three-letter airport symbol for Wichita ”s Mid-Continent Airport.
I told her that was interesting; my daughter, who is a member of the Ukiah roller derby team has been communicating with a member of the Wichita team so she could work out with them over the next few weeks. My daughter, Allison, is staying with my father for a few weeks to help him after the loss of his wife of 64 and one-half years.
The hair stylist, who I had now discovered goes by the roller derby name of Dog Pile Diva, said, “That would be me. I talked to her yesterday and told her she was welcome to skate with us anytime she is in town.”
Now, I wouldn”t call this event a miracle, but it certainly is an amazing coincidence. Wichita is not a small town. It is the largest city in Kansas, with a population of about 400,000, making the odds of getting my hair cut by Dog Pile Diva pretty small.
The only other coincidence in my life that rivals it was about 20 years ago. We took a family vacation to Wisconsin to meet up with old friends who had moved there. We met them in the northern part of the state where they annually rented a cabin on a beautiful lake. On our return drive home to Atchison, Kansas, we pulled into a convenience store for gas in Minnesota. To our astonishment, at the next pump, were our next door neighbors who were also on vacation.
None of us were aware of the other”s vacation plans and to intersect with each other about 800 miles from home was such an unlikely coincidence that it felt like a Twilight Zone episode.
I”m sure that everyone has stories involving phenomenal coincidences in their life. If you want to share them, please e-mail your story to me. We”ll judge them for the most amazing one. The winner will get three free months of the Record-Bee and I will mention the story in a future column.
Have a merry Christmas.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. Email him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
