I believe

I believe that I have someone watching over me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not super religious and I don’t believe in the paranormal.  But I do believe in the power of belief and in humanity. 

 

Let me explain.  When I was younger and fresh out of college I had nothing.  No car, no money, not a thing.  The only thing I had was my ambition and will to survive.  I scored my first big job with a national television network, I was hired to work on live sporting events.  I was beyond thrilled.  To do the job I had to find a place to stay in another city and with no money that isn’t easy.  I called upon my relatives and my uncle took me in.  So, place to stay – check.  Then I had to get myself to the job location, which was about 45 minutes away in another city.  I did the research and found out I could take the train.  Okay, transportation – check.  So I got up nice and early that first day of work, took a bus to the train station and in my horror realized that I had made a mistake and in fact missed the train by about 15 minutes.  There wasn’t another train scheduled to leave for at least a few hours.  I was devastated.  I was so pissed at myself for making such a stupid mistake.  I knew I was screwed.  I was going to be a 1/2 day late on my first day on the new job.  Nice impression I was going to make right?  I was beyond upset.  There was no one I could call to help me, I was on my own.  I was in a big strange city all alone with no money and no way to get to my new job.  

 

I walked outside the train station and just stood there, looking out at the passing cars, the hustle and bustle, people rushing off to places.  I stood there in the middle of this and just started crying.  I felt helpless.  All of a sudden I looked across the street and saw a taxi driver standing outside of his taxi, just leaning on it sipping a coffee.  He was pretty far away from me, I couldn’t make out his facial features, but I could tell that he was looking at me.  Something made me walk over to him.  He was one of about twenty taxi drivers lined up but I was drawn to him.  I went to him, tears running down my face and asked him if he could drive me to the neighboring city so I could get to work on time.  I felt numb, like my words and actions were happening without me being conscious about it.  I told him I had no money but that I would send him a cheque as soon as I got paid.  Oh, can you imagine any taxi driver saying yes to this?  But he did.  He said yes, he would drive me.

 

A tidal wave of relief and gratitude washed over me.  I couldn’t even comprehend how I got so lucky.  I thanked him profusely, took his contact info and swore to him that he would get a cheque.  The taxi ride cost about $90, no small change.  He dropped me off at my job location and I made it just in time.  Unbelievable. 

 

The next week when I got paid the first thing I did was write a cheque and mail it to him.  I never heard from or saw him again.

 

I believe that this happened for a reason.  I believe that someone or something was looking out for me that day.  I believe that he was my guardian angel, for that day anyway.  The whole experience profoundly affected me and made me believe that there is good out there.  It made me believe that I could do anything.  It made me believe in humanity.

 

And for that I thank you, Mr. taxi driver.  You are my angel.