Friday, July 18, 2008

Small Wonders

Sometimes huge life changes hinge on seemingly minor incidents.

I was thinking of my friend Debbie (not her real name), who was trapped (or at least felt so) in an abusive marriage. With no job and two children to support, she felt there was no way she could leave the marriage. Debbie and I had worked together at an ad agency, where she was the head designer and I was the copywriter.

Years later I was an associate creative director at my third ad agency, and we needed to hire an art director. I gave the other ACD, my art counterpart, a list of three names: Debbie and another person I'd worked with at that same agency, and someone else.

The ACD called the first person on my list, who wasn't home. He then called Debbie, who normally would have been out but was home with a massive headache.

Shortened story: Debbie came in, got the job, and with an income felt able to leave her abusive husband. They got divorced, she got her life in order, and life has, so far, been great for her and her children.

All because she was home one day to answer the phone when someone else wasn't.

Now, if you're religious, you might see the hand of God in this story. If not, you might just think it's a nice story.

I think it illustrates the utter capriciousness and randomness of life.

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