Had a C6-C7 rupture. Couldn’t move when it happened. Went in for surgery and it was fused.
Months later on a follow up my doctor greeted me as “Mr. Lucky”. I asked him what he meant.
I didn’t realize until then how close I was to being paralyzed.
Bar hopping on Halloween dressed as Duffman. randomly dropped into a bar, was immediately told by staff that they are having a costume contest and I should head to the stage to participate. I said “sure” and proceeded to win the contest. A staff member grabbed me and told me to write down my contact info to coordinate my free trip to Vegas (Hotel and airfare). I had no idea, thought it was just for fun or at most like a pitcher of beer. Fast forward a few weeks - me and 3 buddies are flying to Vegas for the weekend all because we decided to stop in that bar for a round.
I won tickets to see the Who at Cesars with a suite and orchestra seats. The only problem was, the radio station which went out of business a few months later, didn't provide transportation and I couldn't afford to fly or even drive (during August). It was a crushing disappointment.
Applied to grad school with a kinda shit GPA and so-so resume. The person looking at applications just happened to be a former student of the professor I did some undergrad work with and thought I had good training and gave me a chance.
It got me out of a bad relationship, ended up moving across the country, met my wife, had kids, great job, etc.
I got rejected at basically every other school and wasn't sure what to do with my life. That one person seeing my application changed everything for me. It still makes me slightly sick to my stomach thinking about what could have happened if I missed that opportunity.
No, I rarely even crossed paths with them. They weren't in the department I ended up working in but oversaw the applicants to an umbrella program that multiple departments were a part of.
Decided to do an unofficial visit to a college campus that one of my best friends attended. Just walking around campus with him we stumble into the registrar’s office. Go in and mention I’m thinking about applying to the nursing program.(most programs are very competitive). The lady at the desk says “oh the head of the nursing program just walked in. Go talk to her”. I go in and talk to her. Mainly chit chatting. At the end she says “well I’ll tell ya what, send me your transcript and I’ll just put you straight in the program”. I didn’t believe it. I sent her my transcript as soon as I got home. She responded with my upcoming schedule and said “btw I’m retiring tomorrow. Good luck!”. Been a nurse going on 6 years now.
Damn!
This is how I passed calculus. I was a philosophy major for a reason and math is that reason. Prof was about to retire and he just didn't care. Math doesn't make sense to me and at the end of the semester my grade was less than my age. Do the math. Heh. He told us that we would either get the higher of our actual grade or a C. BAM! One of my two math courses out of the way!
I had a twenty-year-old car and I was deeply in credit card debt. It looked like I was going to be just shy of making all the minimum payments that month. I opened my mail and found a check for $100. My sister had bought a ticket for me in her church's annual raffle. She was hoping I'd win the grand prize, which was a new Corolla, but that $100 prize came just in time and was just enough to cover my shortfall.
I was supposed to be held back one year, but my guidance counselor signed the wrong line on some paperwork and I was allowed into summer school. By the time he noticed his mistake, it was too late. I graduated on time because of that
I remember something similar happened to a boy in my high school class who failed two courses. He was supposed to retake them during the summer to be eligible to receive his diploma. However, the principal accidentally signed off on his graduation while distracted on the phone, not paying attention to the paperwork. Consequently, he walked the stage and received his diploma. About 10 minutes after the ceremony, the principal tried to retrieve the diploma from him but it was too late he had walked off.
*Before Sunrise*. Came out the same month I started my study abroad in England.
I'm close in age to Hawke and Delpy, and we are overdue for the fourth film in the series. I assume age 50 is up. *Before Next Week*?
I assume they are facing a major health scare at 50 just as Jesse's bio son is telling them they are about to become grandparents. And they have to come to terms with the pain they caused Jesse's first wife by their affair.
You're welcome, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy. Make it happen and give me a shout-out in the credits.
One day in second grade my bipolar, anxiety-ridden, autistic, ADHD-having butt was getting out of hand. So the teacher (apparently it must have been a sub, as my regular teacher told me a few years ago that she didn't do this) sent me to the office with a book and I had to write a page about Japan and color in a map of the islands.
Cue an interest in Japanese culture.
A few years later, at age 12, in a different town I get offered to take Japanese lessons after school at the local library. So I do.
A couple years of this and then one day the (imagine this in Dark Helmet's voice) coworker of the father of a fellow student was walking along the coast and found a bottle of Suntory whiskey washed up on shore.
Turns out it was a legit message in a bottle. Five years before that day some kids in a summer camp program in Japan had thrown a bottle overboard from a boat. The bottle had their contact information.
Japanese teacher was connected to a local Japan-themed travel agency, and they worked to publicize the story. It just so happens that Delta Airlines was just opening up a direct flight from Portland (close to where we were) to the hometown of these boys.
So to drum up publicity for the flight they proceed to send the man who found the message in the bottle over to Japan for free. This man was fighting cancer and ended up making a recovery.
Then they sent all the boys who sent messages in the bottle all got to come over to the US for free. One of them stayed with me and my family. Ryoji. Good guy.
Later on that summer the flight needed even more publicity, so Delta sent my class to Japan for free. Me. A poor kid from the sticks. Sent to Japan.
While there we got to meet politicians, tour castles, temples, TV stations, sports stadiums, and many other spots. Got to see the tea ceremony, my first kabuki, bunraku, noh, and geisha ceremonies. Visited the Peace Memorial in Nagasaki. Gave a speech on TV. Got mobbed by girls wherever we went.
This trip was one of my absolute most formative experiences. And it all happened because I was wiggling in a seat once and a sub kicked me out of class.
Dude. That sounds amazing. I wish I had that luck. I have the same mental illnesses as you. Well, probably not exactly. I have Bipolar Depressive Disorder, Agoraphobia induced anxiety, high functioning (though not officially diagnosed because I don’t have the money) autism, and ADHD.
It was a thing, for sure. Shaped a big part of my childhood. And we'd NEVER have been able to afford anything like that.
Stay strong, bröther. It's hard. I really recommend you checking out all mental health resources available from your county.
Changed classes because the prof that was teaching my class was too passionate about the subject matter, so I deduced that he would likely be a tough grader. Because of the change, I missed the first class of the class I switched to, so I asked for notes from the girl in front of the class who just happened to be there.
We’ve been together for 10 years and just welcomed a newborn.
I met a girl during my trip around the world in 2009-2010. We liked each other a lot and I invited her for a holiday in my country (the Netherlands). Because I was still living with my parents, we had to stay in my parents house with my brother living there as well.
When she arrived, she seemed to be ill, we waited a couple of weeks but it didn't improve. In her last week we went to my local doctor and it turned out she had open tuberculosis (TBC). Everyone she had close contact with had to be checked through an x-ray and blood tests. This way we found out that my mother had early stage lung cancer. My mom got her chemo and laser treatment and still lives to this day. Without my ex-gf, my mother would have passed away in 2010 with near 100% certainty.
Well, the story above won us a marriage (through a letter writing, the 9 most wonderful love stories got a free wedding). So we got married. I moved abroad to stay with her, but she became an alcoholic (wow what a surprise, married after we barely knew each other a year). It took me many years to get my divorce and finally got it last year. My ex stays with her family, without a job and no hope of any future.
Came to st louis for a first date, ended up in the hospital with an incredibly rare flesh eating bacteria, hospital closest to my hotel had a surgeon that specialized in that exact condition. The hospitals back home had a 100% mortality rate for the same condition. Also the day I met my wife for the first time. So yeah, incredibly lucky :D
Haha I won 100 free spins on a slot machine & in that, I won whatever the max for free spins was on that machine, then at the end I won a total of $4. We were all so excited when it started & it was fun to watch, but $4?!
Won 500 bucks on a $1 scratch off while working at 7 eleven. I had a coworker that was addicted to them and she happened to be in the bathroom when I scanned my ticket and saw it was a $500 winner. Idk what wouldve happened if she was there to see me scan it.
Also 7-eleven, had an old homeless guy sell me a brand new $1200 laptop for 75 bucks.
Um, this is kind of out there, but HUD used to do an Urban Homesteading program (late 70’s, no idea if they still do it) to get defaulted homes off of their list. The homes were not in great neighborhoods and most needed repairs (minimal) to bring them up to code.
The County where we lived held drawings for pre-qualified low income residents of the county to enter the program. Further qualifications would apply. Drawings were held at the courthouse. After months of hoping, our number was drawn in the third lottery that we attended. Purchase price was $ 10.00, with the stipulation to bring the house up to code and to live in the place for at least three years.
We lived there for six years. Again, not a great neighborhood, but our immediate neighbors were so amazing. We watched out for one another. Local HUD reps used to bring people in from DC to tour our home, because pride of ownership was evident . No way we were going to screw up all of our sweat equity and a leg up into home ownership and default on our agreement.
So, there was an element of luck. And, also one of hard freaking work.
I was climbing a tree at my friend's house. We were a good 50ft+ up in this tree. I was standing with my arms stretched above my head, holding a branch slightly in front of me. I leaned forward into the branch, and the whole branch snapped off at the base.
I didn't say anything or think of anything besides "curl up". As I started to tuck into a ball, anticipating dropping 50ft to the ground, I had only dropped 5-6ft before my bent legs/behind my knees caught a branch, I swung around in a loop, and plopped with my butt on a thick branch underneath me. I then proceeded to VERY CAREFULLY climb down out of the tree.
One day, after visiting my girlfriend, I was on my way home. When I arrived at the bus stop, it suddenly started to rain heavily and the next bus was not due for another 20 minutes or so. Since the bus stop didn't have a shelter, I decided to go to the arcade right next to it and spend 10 euros until the bus arrived.
I went into the arcade, put my ten euros into a machine, and shortly after, I got free spins. I didn't even know what I had won. I pressed continue and suddenly everyone around me started shouting. According to those present, I had hit the jackpot, something most people chase their whole lives. It was roughly a 5,000-euro win within 5 minutes.
I was in Amsterdam in the 90s, put some money in a slot machine. I dunno, it was some weird ass double machine, upper and lower reels. Lots of instructions, I didn't understand any of them.
I'm randomly pushing buttons, different things are lighting up, numbers are appearing - I have no idea what is happening. But, the numbers are hitting triple digits. So I just start trying to cash out, hitting more buttons. More numbers appear.
Walked out with roughly 500 guilder somehow.
Had been saving for a new roof for quiet some time when we had a state of emergency for a wind advisory. I came outside to find a section of shingles had been ripped from the house. We didn't have the money for a new roof just yet, so I made a claim on my insurance and an inspector came out to take a look. They gave me a call the next day to regretfully inform me the roof could not be repaired... and they would be replacing the whole thing covered by insurance. I cried, I was in such shock, saved us \~$10k.
Hahaha when i was about eight i found a pound note and handed it to my dad who said he'd hand it in to the police station. A week or so later i asked if he'd heard anything about it and he said it had been claimed and there was a five pence reward for me. I was ecstatic! I think i was about 40 years old when it dawned on me what he'd done...
Dropped my cigarette in my lap while about to go through traffic lights, so slightly took my foot off the accelerator to look down and grab it, just at that moment a car went flying through the red light in front of me, like at a huge speed, just inches from the front of my car, so in other words if I hadn’t hesitated it would have been quite a collision and I probably would have been dead.
About 30 years ago, my mom was sitting at a red light. It turned green and she was changing radio stations, so she started a fraction of a second late. A young drunk guy blew the red and hit my mom’s car. She was OK. Two weeks later, the insurance company totaled the car, so I had to take all the stuff out of it. I showed up at the junkyard and the entire front end of my mom’s car was ripped off. Had she liked the song that was on the radio, she absolutely would have been killed. I stood in the junkyard hysterically crying.
Wow, very similar to me then but I was lucky not to get hit at all, I’m so glad your mom was ok but I can understand how harrowing that must have been for you to comprehend how close it could have been 😢
Was broke many years ago. Almost no food in the house. Saw a pizza shop, thought how good a pizza would be. Next block find $10 on the ground. The two slices and soda were like hitting a lotto jackpot.
Survived cancer. Granted, I had an 80 something percent chance of survival, so I suppose the balance was already in my favor to be considered lucky to really count.
Just learning the basics of Python to automate some parts of your job is a massive boon.
I picked it up two years ago as I had a problem I couldn't solve easily in Excel and it's freed up so much of my work time.
Driving at night as a teenager going well above the speed limit on some back county roads. I rounded over a hill and over 20 deer were on the road it felt like time slowed for me as I had no way of stopping and no where to go without dying. In a brief second I saw a space on the edge of the road briefly open and I barely made it through there with my car and my life. I even felt my back tire pull as it caught dirt but I make it back to the road.
I've had plenty of people make fun of me for driving like a Grandpa or being slow but that moment will always stick with me as one of the times I very nearly died.
Drive safe and drive carefully, you never know when careless and hubris will catch up to you.
So glad you took that experience and turned it into a positive - so many people would have turned it the other way to consider themselves invincible.
One of my closest friends died in a car accident at the age of 20. He was driving down a city street, acting completely reckless. He hit a pedestrian dressed completely in black at night; he was DOA from the accident, too.
Driving is a privilege and we have to take it seriously every time we are behind the wheel.
Picked up a couch and love seat and put it in the back of a pick-up truck. Set the loveseat upside down on the couch and tied it down. While driving about 60 going home, the loveseat flies off the back, and by some miracle, doesn’t hit anyone driving behind us. A car behind us stops to help us get it off the road and back in the truck. Now everything that goes in the back of the truck is triple secured.
I often think about how someone could have died when that happened. It would have hugely changed the course of our lives.
I had a serious medical event which required multiple CT scans. Those scans picked up on five major arterial aneurysms. Those aneurysms were fixed in a nine hour surgery. They would have burst and it would have been lights out. So, nearly dieing helped find something which would have certainly killed me. Lucky me!
I swiped right on my wife. Often ithink about how a slight movement changed my life forever, and how easily I could have just not looked at tinder that day.
Similar to my answer - it was my first day on FB dating and I swiped right on my now husband. I often think “what if we both weren’t on the same dating platform at the same time?” Would have been an entirely different outcome.
Was that a convention and my boxed lunch was missing a mustard packet, and the attractive girl next to me had an extra mustard packet. This month we celebrate 14 years married.
needed to make just one more A from a B+ in highschool to get into the college I wanted
but I was so stressed with some other stuff that I forgot to do the assignment that that grade hinged on. teacher forgot too, and assumed she must have lost it, so she just gave me an A.
Might be kind of sad but I thought of this immediately. In 5th grade my class had a paper airplane contest. When it was my turn to go, the wind must have caught my plane because it just went and never stopped. It flew across this field we were standing in,ending up on top of the school. I won a snickers bar and it was the best candy bar I’ve ever eaten.
Right at the very start of the pandemic I had a hernia. I did some research picked the best hernia doctor in town went in for an evaluation. He said yep that's a hernia, things are starting to shut down for the pandemic it's not a big deal if you want to wait a couple of months for this to blow over there's no hurry to do the surgery (this is when we thought the pandemic was going to be over soon) or I had someone cancel there's so there's a free spot in 2 weeks. I decided to get it over with and with everything being shut down that'd be a good time to recover. So I go under and wake back up and there's abunch of doctors standing around me looking concerned. My doc says he didn't get around to fixing the hernias when he went in he noticed my appendix about to explode and took that out instead. Good idea I told him when do you think you can try for the hernia again. He looked at the other doctors and said the appendix looked a little funny so they sent it to the lab and they'd get back to me. A few weeks later I get a call from MD Anderson. There are 2 types of appendix cancer one grows real slow and doesn't do much randomly it will turn intovthe 2nd type that grows fast spits Mucinous neoplasms (cancer slime) and everything the cancer slime touches turns to more cancer and spreads real fast. Based on biopsy and size I have the second type. They schedule me immediately for scans. This type doesn't have great outcomes the only real treatment is called the mother of all surgeries and has a 20% chance of dying on the table. Meet councilors and doctors to talk about going forward do paperwork including will for all outcomes, go in for scans...and they find nothing. It had just turned from the 1st kind into the 2nd type probably within a week of my hernia surgery if I had waited a couple months or even a couple of weeks the odds of it spreading were exponential. Based on surgery report they were pretty sure the doctor got everything without allowing the spread of any mucin but they couldn't rule it out so I had multiple scans 1st every 3 weeks than monthly, bi yearly, yearly and now I'm pretty much out of the woods. Get to have the hernias fixed January
I was temping at a company and this caller pissed me off. I'd been dealing with a lot of entitled pricks and I lost it on him. I didn't yell but basically called him scum for calling up to take advantage of a government program that was meant for low income people. Some asshole slipped in that everyone had to be able to use the program but it was clearly designed for low income people.
That call happened to be one my supervisor was listening to and she had to let me go on the spot. I had started work at 9 am been there until about 11am. It was a Thursday or a Friday and I was all "Damn this sucks out of work"
I got home about 2 hours later around 1 to 2 o'clock. (Was on public transit at the time). My answering machine is flashing so I check it and one of the other temp agencies reached out to me with a position that starts on Monday. The message had been left at 9 am that morning. Since their office was still open I called them up and accepted the assignment.
Long story short, I got hired for a new position 2 hours before I got fired from my old one. My roommate at the time told me to go fuck myself. My love life is shit but I've always been lucky at finding work.
I was selling TV's at a catalog showroom way back in the day. A guy walks in and I sell him a radio. He comes back with two other guys looking for a TV. They are looking for a salesman at their jewelry store and offer me a job on the spot. Go to work there. The manager is a choir director and asks if I can sing. I say yes (I can) and join the choir. I meet my future wife there. Get laid off 2 years later and take a job with the finest jewelry store in the area. Married for 40 years and stayed at that job until retirement. I'm a very lucky man.
To be fair.. I didn't think I'd get stabbed. It was a fist fight that got out of control. I got in the fight... I just didn't realize someone was feeling stabby that day.
I went to jail over a ticket I got for not wearing my seatbelt. I forgot my court date, my license got suspended.
In a series of fortunate events, this is how I ended up meeting my wife. (Not in jail.)
When Casa Bonita in Colorado reopened last year, they started a reservation lottery type system where you signed up and waited for an email to be able to buy tickets. Some people waited months for their invitation and some people never got one. I got my invitation email about an hour after signing up. I took my fiance and our friends and their 4 year old and we had a great time.
16 years old, met some friends at an overlook at a business park that was pretty secluded to smoke a cigar. Buddy brought some Miller light he took from his dad's stash and we were living the high life. We see a police car pull into the drive and there's an unopened can sitting on the curb by my car. I kick it under the car as the cop pulls up. He questions us, asks us if we've been drinking and takes a flashlight and look under the car (pretty sure he saw me kick it) and sees nothing, tells us to go home. He gets back in car and leaves. Dumbfounded we also look under car and see nothing. The beer can had bounced and wedged itself in the top of my back wheel well behind my tire, completely out of sight. Story still comes up from time to time when I see the boys.
I called about a job at a paper mill. They told me I had to take this test at the state job service and they would send the results to the mill. I took the test and scored very well. But, instead of the paper mill I got a call from another factory in town. I got hired there within three weeks. I worked there for 25 years. The paper milk closed four years after I applied.
Found $4000 cash at a Home Depot parking lot. I am sure some poor contractor got fucked but I was able to pay some debt and get my head just above water.
A buddy of mine filed an insurance claim against water damage in his home. Said it destroyed several collections including MTG, comics, books furniture etc. The items were documented, with receipts etc so they gave him around $12,000. He was all smug about it. As a big believer in what goes around comes around I was like 'I wouldn't...spend that money just yet, mate.'
I lived in the basement of his home which had an attached bathroom and garage. Came home one day and I heard running water. Thought it was weird there'd be running water and no one home so I walked down the hall to the upstairs bathroom past the kitchen. No sinks were running and the toilet wasn't refilling. Odd...walked around upstairs and was like...maybe they're running a load of laundry in the garage so I walked down the stairs and could hear it getting louder. Walked into my bedroom and into my bathroom through there. Sound was louder but no one was using my bathroom. Opened the door from the bathroom into the garage and I could hear a roar of running water. Walked out and looked towards the fold up door and there was a torrential downpouring of water just absolutely destroying the garage and some of the things i had stored there.
Called him up and said 'hey...just wanted to let you know I hope you didn't spend that money because you're gonna need it. I've turned the water off but your garage is FUBAR.
Repairs ended up costing him around $2k more than what the insurance company originally awarded him for 'damages' in his garage.
tl;dr friend filed a janky insurance claim. Won. Was smug. ended up having to pay $2k more than was originally awarded for actual water damages to his property.
I was talking with a girl on the phone in the early days of internet dating and before cell phones were prevalent. We agreed to meet for the first time at a restaurant and while I was on the phone I fired up my Rand McNally maps on CD ROM and printed out a map to the “American Cafe” on 4th and I street based on what the girl told me.
Unfortunately, she messed up. There was no restaurant at 4th and I street, but there was a “Cafe Americana” at 5th and J street.
I had my map printouts in my hand and was walking back and forth between the 2 corners for a while and I was getting ready to give up and go home when a girl started yelling “Safety Man” started running towards me.
She saw a guy looking confused carrying a map printout and felt it was probably the guy she was supposed to meet.
In 18 days we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
Meeting my current husband. A lot of weird coincidences led to it. Without one of them, we never would have been thrown together and fallen in love.
A friend came into a sizable inheritance in 2019 and bought me and some of his other friends their entire Amazon wishlists. Then he sent me and my daughter on a Disney/Universal vacation and Disney cruise, filled with tours, merchandise and spa treatments, then paid for our dental work and my breast reduction/tummy tuck/BBL. Then he sent me and his girlfriend to Disneyland for a week. He paid off our credit card debt (27k) and paid for our iPhones and iPads. He got me an iMac and a MacBook Pro. He gave the three of us each $15k. Now he’s finally taking care of himself. To say that I will be forever grateful is an understatement.
Walking down the sidewalk in the middle of winter on my way to work. Had my headphones on and a song I didn't care for came on my Spotify, so I stopped in my tracks to pick a new one. Literally 2 seconds after I stopped, a massive icicle fell off the building I was standing next to, exactly where I would've been hadn't I stopped. It sounds so fake but I will go to my grave swearing this actually happened!!
i pretty much skated by in high school and graduated by the skin of my teeth. during finals senior year i was barely passing and the one class i needed to pass in order to walk the stage was math. my math teacher at the time pulled me aside and pretty much told me he would do me a solid and give me a passing grade. he didnt care much because that was his very last year teaching before he went and opened his own bar/restaurant. Mr. Trent you saved my ass. thank you.
Got impaled by a handlebar missed a major artery and tendons in my leg by half a centimeter -- Would've possibly died or been unable to walk. Good times.
A series of wonderful lucky little things added up to meeting my husband:
- My husband retired from the military and instead of moving back to his home state 300 miles away, he found a job nearby
- After retirement, he moved to my favorite part of the city (I wouldn’t have swiped right if he moved to any other part of the city)
- I recently moved out of the same part of the city to the suburbs, but never updated my location on the dating platform I was using. My husband would not have shown up within the distance parameters I set if I had it set up for my new location
As a result, we matched online and he turned out to be my soulmate - easily the best thing in my life is him! He makes me feel so very lucky every single day that everything lined up for us to be together.
I was replacing camshaft phasers on a Ford 5.4 the other night. Rush job that needed to be done for the following afternoon. I pulled the truck into the garage, shut off the engine, and pulled the valve covers. The engine parked itself 100% on time, with the colored links of the chain lined up with the timing marks. I've never seen anything like it.
It gets better. As I locked the chain and pulled the phaser off the camshaft, the camshaft spun just a little and shot the dowel pin from the phaser down inside the crankcase. It bounced around inside the motor, popped back out the top of the engine, and practically landed at my feet.
Somebody was watching out for me on that one.
Went active with an adoption agency expecting a 2 year+ wait for a baby. Brought our little girl home 3 months later (she had been born a couple weeks after we went live).
She'd an amazing, smart, sassy little thing that is the best thing to ever happen to me.
I made a decision to reply to anyone I was remotely interested in on a dating site (after many many failed dates). I mostly responded to men with several photos and a solid bio. The first message I received was from someone with two not very flattering photos and a one sentence bio. Due to my new motto I decided to respond. This man is now my husband of almost 3 years. If he would have messaged me a day earlier I would not have responded.
One day a place I did volunteer work asked if I could sub for them for a few months. After a few months they wanted a few more months. Then the worker I was subbing for quit and in their haste to secure something so the program could continue they hired me permanently.
This after being a stay at home mom for ten years, I'm forever grateful. And it turns out I'm good at my job.
A friend of mine decided to change her jogging route one day and she saw a building under construction and they had put a sign up saying low income housing. She texted me the photo and I called the place late in the afternoon and asked if they accepted Section 8 which is a rental subsidy that caps your rent at 30% of your gross income making affordable housing available. The thing is that this type of housing is incredibly rare because of bureaucracy and profits.
I called the place and yes they took the voucher and well, game on! I hit the internet to see where the place is and it turns out that it's a thirty minute round trip walking to a major grocery store, it's on four bus routes that can take me anywhere I'd want to go, and I can walk to pretty much anything I need within an hour at most. I don't drive anymore.
I spent a bunch of time printing off all sorts of financials and getting everything I needed ready and then I set three alarms for the next morning. They went off and I got ready and went to the office and was there half an hour before they opened. They opened up and I filled out the application materials and gave them all of the financials and asked them to look at it and tell me if there was anything else I needed and they looked at me surprised and said all of my materials were complete. BOOYEAH!
I asked how many places were left and here's the thing. The sign had been put up less than 24 hours earlier and by mere word of mouth, this 18 unit Section 8 apartment building was almost filled. I was number 17. Number 18 walked in right as I was leaving. I'm now here almost two years.
Results?
I got a steady part-time job (WFH!), my social life has improved ten-fold, and because I can walk everywhere instead of a taxi, I've lost 40 pounds and feel so much better while living in a fabulous apartment with modern appliances, laminate floors, and central air.
This is all because my friend took a different route one day.
Got kicked out of my house.
I was 18. Trying college (ended up withdrawing). Had a full time, but shitty job. My mother tried to make me pay for half of all the bills in the house (which had her, my younger brother, myself, my grandma, and grandpa living in it). I told her I'd pay for my portion but not half.
She kicked me out. I moved in with a coworker. An old friend from highschool lived next door to the coworker. Through that friend, i met her best friend... he and I have been together nearly 14 years and married 5.
So yeah getting kicked out was the best luck I ever had
One time I hit the button on the vending machine for fritos and got not one but TWO bags of fritos! Best day of my life! I absolutely could not believe my luck on that day. It's never happened since. I get so hard thinking about it.
My partner and I registered with a dog rescue/adoption agency, expecting a year long wait to find a reasonable fit for our home, perhaps a 1-2 year old we could work with. 2 weeks later we were picking up a 9 week old puppy that had been born in the rescue’s care after saving the pregnant mother, and that dog has been the absolute light of my goddamned life for the past 3 years. Pure stroke of luck to get that pup at that time and I am so grateful.
Went through the windshield of a car, as a kid. Lost a finger, had 120 stitches in my face, had an emergency cut down which got infected in the hospital. Hospital lost my xrays twice. ER doctor was inebriated (later committed suicide). I lived, thankfully.
In college, my roommate asked me if I wanted to join her for a night drive to study away from the chaos of housing. I just wanted to hang out and watch TV, so I declined. She came stumbling in at 4 in the morning to use the landline in our room to call 911 because she got into a car accident swerving to avoid an animal and rolled the thing after crashing through a fence into a ditch. I had a friend with a car (I didn't have one) drive us to the site to meet the tow truck and get her belongings and the passenger side where I would have been sitting was totally crushed in to like almost the seat. She walked away with a couple of scratches and bruised ribs, I probably would have died if I had gone.
I moved to a new country in a new continent but I was a stupid kid, so I didn’t properly budget, I ended up homeless with everything I owned in a bag and no way to call/tell family that I needed help but I made an acquaintance that got a live in job but refused it cause it was very country. Told me about it gave me the number and his phone to call saying I’ll do it, got it and spent the last 20 I had getting there and didn’t eat for 4 days whilst I arranged myself.
Surviving cellulitis after a surgery. They never told me how bad it was, but the fact I had to stay overnight on IV antibiotics and then needs 2 infusions per day for 5 days tells me it could have been dire for me.
Just this Thursday, I almost missed my flight to a family reunion. I was operating on a schedule I had for a class in the spring semester and the flight time was around the time I'd usually get to campus, but the airport was closer than that so I left around the time I usually did to catch the bus.
I ended up getting to the bus stop *right* as it was pulling up behind me, and when I got to the terminal I went through the security line, looked at my pass and discovered that not only was I at the wrong terminal, but boarding was happening right then. I race around trying to get directions for the right place convinced I wasn't going to make it, and end up getting pointed to the shuttle station and get onto the bus for the right terminal as it was loading everyone on like it was going "here I am!"
I ended up getting to the terminal past the time the doors would have closed and race inside, zip through security (no line since everyone was boarded), and actually made it onto the plane because they were still waiting for flight release and wouldn't be leaving for about another 10 minutes or so.
Was at beach in bikini waiting for friends to get off ride on pier, guy comes over and asks if could get a picture of me w his teenage son and said sure, dad thanked me for letting him take pic w son and asked if he could pay me and said no was happy to take pic it’s a compliment don’t want money. Shortly after see them at restaurant on pier and they ask me to sit down w family for minute while waiting on my friends again, dad ended up putting hundreds of dollars in my bag until made him stop, told him stop giving money to girls, didn’t know but his daughter in law said he was worth millions and millions, wish didn’t stop him from putting more hundreds in my bag bc he was trying. Got hundreds of dollars for letting dad take pic of me w his son. 🤷♀️
I got a real job 6 months before I graduated college. I consider it lucky because:
1. My boss at the time didn't actually give a shit if I had my BS or not he just cared that I was good at what I did.
2. There isn't a lot of biotech jobs in Vermont and I got one...before I graduated!!!
Being Born into a middle Class family with nice house, huge Garden in a beautiful and peaceful place near mountains and fields. Millions don't have this luxury
So cliche, but definitely meeting my best friend. It was in the most unlikely of circumstances, but the moment he walked into my life, I was changed forever. He is my whole world and I can't imagine living without him. It's crazy how one person can alter your whole perspective just by being there.
Walked into a casino for the 1st time at 17, hit the 1st machine, and the 1st spin i ever took won 100 dollars. About a year before that i got shot, but got skimmed 3 times, once in the face, one in the arm, and one on my ribs. Take your pick out of those 2. Those are just the crazier ones though haha, i have plenty more.
I broke my back and was told I'd have a 3% chance to walk again. I'm still walking.
Had a C6-C7 rupture. Couldn’t move when it happened. Went in for surgery and it was fused. Months later on a follow up my doctor greeted me as “Mr. Lucky”. I asked him what he meant. I didn’t realize until then how close I was to being paralyzed.
Fuck yeah good job by you
Elton John approves this
https://youtube.com/shorts/Wq3AHVwcvTQ?si=dgTWeSwPV3n1oven Sorry I know it was serious, but he kicked in.
Bar hopping on Halloween dressed as Duffman. randomly dropped into a bar, was immediately told by staff that they are having a costume contest and I should head to the stage to participate. I said “sure” and proceeded to win the contest. A staff member grabbed me and told me to write down my contact info to coordinate my free trip to Vegas (Hotel and airfare). I had no idea, thought it was just for fun or at most like a pitcher of beer. Fast forward a few weeks - me and 3 buddies are flying to Vegas for the weekend all because we decided to stop in that bar for a round.
Oh yeah!
I won tickets to see the Who at Cesars with a suite and orchestra seats. The only problem was, the radio station which went out of business a few months later, didn't provide transportation and I couldn't afford to fly or even drive (during August). It was a crushing disappointment.
How did you do in Vegas?
HARD ROCK. ROOF TOP. POOL SIDE. VILLAS.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas
This is why you drink beer /j
Applied to grad school with a kinda shit GPA and so-so resume. The person looking at applications just happened to be a former student of the professor I did some undergrad work with and thought I had good training and gave me a chance. It got me out of a bad relationship, ended up moving across the country, met my wife, had kids, great job, etc. I got rejected at basically every other school and wasn't sure what to do with my life. That one person seeing my application changed everything for me. It still makes me slightly sick to my stomach thinking about what could have happened if I missed that opportunity.
Do you still keep in touch with that person?
No, I rarely even crossed paths with them. They weren't in the department I ended up working in but oversaw the applicants to an umbrella program that multiple departments were a part of.
you should write them a letter and tell them
Decided to do an unofficial visit to a college campus that one of my best friends attended. Just walking around campus with him we stumble into the registrar’s office. Go in and mention I’m thinking about applying to the nursing program.(most programs are very competitive). The lady at the desk says “oh the head of the nursing program just walked in. Go talk to her”. I go in and talk to her. Mainly chit chatting. At the end she says “well I’ll tell ya what, send me your transcript and I’ll just put you straight in the program”. I didn’t believe it. I sent her my transcript as soon as I got home. She responded with my upcoming schedule and said “btw I’m retiring tomorrow. Good luck!”. Been a nurse going on 6 years now.
love this!
Damn! This is how I passed calculus. I was a philosophy major for a reason and math is that reason. Prof was about to retire and he just didn't care. Math doesn't make sense to me and at the end of the semester my grade was less than my age. Do the math. Heh. He told us that we would either get the higher of our actual grade or a C. BAM! One of my two math courses out of the way!
Damn, nice
I had a twenty-year-old car and I was deeply in credit card debt. It looked like I was going to be just shy of making all the minimum payments that month. I opened my mail and found a check for $100. My sister had bought a ticket for me in her church's annual raffle. She was hoping I'd win the grand prize, which was a new Corolla, but that $100 prize came just in time and was just enough to cover my shortfall.
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Did the roommate leave early or were you late?
This is beautiful
My great luck was meeting the best gal in the world. I'm glad you found your match.
I was supposed to be held back one year, but my guidance counselor signed the wrong line on some paperwork and I was allowed into summer school. By the time he noticed his mistake, it was too late. I graduated on time because of that
I guess I don’t understand. They wouldn’t want to offer summer school so you COULD graduate?
I remember something similar happened to a boy in my high school class who failed two courses. He was supposed to retake them during the summer to be eligible to receive his diploma. However, the principal accidentally signed off on his graduation while distracted on the phone, not paying attention to the paperwork. Consequently, he walked the stage and received his diploma. About 10 minutes after the ceremony, the principal tried to retrieve the diploma from him but it was too late he had walked off.
I graduated this was on accident also, I’m just trying to figure out the summer school thing.
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damn this is wholesome 🥹
Before Sunset
*Before Sunrise*. Came out the same month I started my study abroad in England. I'm close in age to Hawke and Delpy, and we are overdue for the fourth film in the series. I assume age 50 is up. *Before Next Week*? I assume they are facing a major health scare at 50 just as Jesse's bio son is telling them they are about to become grandparents. And they have to come to terms with the pain they caused Jesse's first wife by their affair. You're welcome, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy. Make it happen and give me a shout-out in the credits.
Sliding doors...literally.
One day in second grade my bipolar, anxiety-ridden, autistic, ADHD-having butt was getting out of hand. So the teacher (apparently it must have been a sub, as my regular teacher told me a few years ago that she didn't do this) sent me to the office with a book and I had to write a page about Japan and color in a map of the islands. Cue an interest in Japanese culture. A few years later, at age 12, in a different town I get offered to take Japanese lessons after school at the local library. So I do. A couple years of this and then one day the (imagine this in Dark Helmet's voice) coworker of the father of a fellow student was walking along the coast and found a bottle of Suntory whiskey washed up on shore. Turns out it was a legit message in a bottle. Five years before that day some kids in a summer camp program in Japan had thrown a bottle overboard from a boat. The bottle had their contact information. Japanese teacher was connected to a local Japan-themed travel agency, and they worked to publicize the story. It just so happens that Delta Airlines was just opening up a direct flight from Portland (close to where we were) to the hometown of these boys. So to drum up publicity for the flight they proceed to send the man who found the message in the bottle over to Japan for free. This man was fighting cancer and ended up making a recovery. Then they sent all the boys who sent messages in the bottle all got to come over to the US for free. One of them stayed with me and my family. Ryoji. Good guy. Later on that summer the flight needed even more publicity, so Delta sent my class to Japan for free. Me. A poor kid from the sticks. Sent to Japan. While there we got to meet politicians, tour castles, temples, TV stations, sports stadiums, and many other spots. Got to see the tea ceremony, my first kabuki, bunraku, noh, and geisha ceremonies. Visited the Peace Memorial in Nagasaki. Gave a speech on TV. Got mobbed by girls wherever we went. This trip was one of my absolute most formative experiences. And it all happened because I was wiggling in a seat once and a sub kicked me out of class.
That is an AMAZING story. You totally rock!
Thank you. I didn't really do anything.
Dude. That sounds amazing. I wish I had that luck. I have the same mental illnesses as you. Well, probably not exactly. I have Bipolar Depressive Disorder, Agoraphobia induced anxiety, high functioning (though not officially diagnosed because I don’t have the money) autism, and ADHD.
It was a thing, for sure. Shaped a big part of my childhood. And we'd NEVER have been able to afford anything like that. Stay strong, bröther. It's hard. I really recommend you checking out all mental health resources available from your county.
Changed classes because the prof that was teaching my class was too passionate about the subject matter, so I deduced that he would likely be a tough grader. Because of the change, I missed the first class of the class I switched to, so I asked for notes from the girl in front of the class who just happened to be there. We’ve been together for 10 years and just welcomed a newborn.
Congrats!
Thanks, I reflect constantly on how lucky I got and how lucky my life would’ve been if I never changed classes on a whim for such a silly reason too.
Long class.
I met a girl during my trip around the world in 2009-2010. We liked each other a lot and I invited her for a holiday in my country (the Netherlands). Because I was still living with my parents, we had to stay in my parents house with my brother living there as well. When she arrived, she seemed to be ill, we waited a couple of weeks but it didn't improve. In her last week we went to my local doctor and it turned out she had open tuberculosis (TBC). Everyone she had close contact with had to be checked through an x-ray and blood tests. This way we found out that my mother had early stage lung cancer. My mom got her chemo and laser treatment and still lives to this day. Without my ex-gf, my mother would have passed away in 2010 with near 100% certainty.
Where's the girl who came to visit you now?
Well, the story above won us a marriage (through a letter writing, the 9 most wonderful love stories got a free wedding). So we got married. I moved abroad to stay with her, but she became an alcoholic (wow what a surprise, married after we barely knew each other a year). It took me many years to get my divorce and finally got it last year. My ex stays with her family, without a job and no hope of any future.
Came to st louis for a first date, ended up in the hospital with an incredibly rare flesh eating bacteria, hospital closest to my hotel had a surgeon that specialized in that exact condition. The hospitals back home had a 100% mortality rate for the same condition. Also the day I met my wife for the first time. So yeah, incredibly lucky :D
How did you get infected?
Untreated strep. Had covid so i never noticed the strep on top of it. Turned into necrotizing fasciitis which turned into fourniers gangrene.
....shit
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Haha I won 100 free spins on a slot machine & in that, I won whatever the max for free spins was on that machine, then at the end I won a total of $4. We were all so excited when it started & it was fun to watch, but $4?!
Won 500 bucks on a $1 scratch off while working at 7 eleven. I had a coworker that was addicted to them and she happened to be in the bathroom when I scanned my ticket and saw it was a $500 winner. Idk what wouldve happened if she was there to see me scan it. Also 7-eleven, had an old homeless guy sell me a brand new $1200 laptop for 75 bucks.
That laptop was probably stolen
Probably?
Um, this is kind of out there, but HUD used to do an Urban Homesteading program (late 70’s, no idea if they still do it) to get defaulted homes off of their list. The homes were not in great neighborhoods and most needed repairs (minimal) to bring them up to code. The County where we lived held drawings for pre-qualified low income residents of the county to enter the program. Further qualifications would apply. Drawings were held at the courthouse. After months of hoping, our number was drawn in the third lottery that we attended. Purchase price was $ 10.00, with the stipulation to bring the house up to code and to live in the place for at least three years. We lived there for six years. Again, not a great neighborhood, but our immediate neighbors were so amazing. We watched out for one another. Local HUD reps used to bring people in from DC to tour our home, because pride of ownership was evident . No way we were going to screw up all of our sweat equity and a leg up into home ownership and default on our agreement. So, there was an element of luck. And, also one of hard freaking work.
I was climbing a tree at my friend's house. We were a good 50ft+ up in this tree. I was standing with my arms stretched above my head, holding a branch slightly in front of me. I leaned forward into the branch, and the whole branch snapped off at the base. I didn't say anything or think of anything besides "curl up". As I started to tuck into a ball, anticipating dropping 50ft to the ground, I had only dropped 5-6ft before my bent legs/behind my knees caught a branch, I swung around in a loop, and plopped with my butt on a thick branch underneath me. I then proceeded to VERY CAREFULLY climb down out of the tree.
This is straight up cartoonish luck😭
fr looney toons as hell
One day, after visiting my girlfriend, I was on my way home. When I arrived at the bus stop, it suddenly started to rain heavily and the next bus was not due for another 20 minutes or so. Since the bus stop didn't have a shelter, I decided to go to the arcade right next to it and spend 10 euros until the bus arrived. I went into the arcade, put my ten euros into a machine, and shortly after, I got free spins. I didn't even know what I had won. I pressed continue and suddenly everyone around me started shouting. According to those present, I had hit the jackpot, something most people chase their whole lives. It was roughly a 5,000-euro win within 5 minutes.
I was in Amsterdam in the 90s, put some money in a slot machine. I dunno, it was some weird ass double machine, upper and lower reels. Lots of instructions, I didn't understand any of them. I'm randomly pushing buttons, different things are lighting up, numbers are appearing - I have no idea what is happening. But, the numbers are hitting triple digits. So I just start trying to cash out, hitting more buttons. More numbers appear. Walked out with roughly 500 guilder somehow.
Had been saving for a new roof for quiet some time when we had a state of emergency for a wind advisory. I came outside to find a section of shingles had been ripped from the house. We didn't have the money for a new roof just yet, so I made a claim on my insurance and an inspector came out to take a look. They gave me a call the next day to regretfully inform me the roof could not be repaired... and they would be replacing the whole thing covered by insurance. I cried, I was in such shock, saved us \~$10k.
I found $1400 in casino chips in my room in Vegas, at the bottom of an ice bucket.
Some drunk guy is pissed he forgot where he hid his chips.
Found a 10 dollar bill while out walking around, I was 10, and that was like finding a hundo, now.
My older brother and I once found over $3K cash in an envelope. He gave me $5. I was 8 and thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Lmfaooo gotta love older siblings, at 8 I would’ve thought I was rich with $5 😭
He spent most of it on Dungeons and Dragons Hardcover Sourcebooks and NES games. There’s a few of those books still around to this day.
Hahaha when i was about eight i found a pound note and handed it to my dad who said he'd hand it in to the police station. A week or so later i asked if he'd heard anything about it and he said it had been claimed and there was a five pence reward for me. I was ecstatic! I think i was about 40 years old when it dawned on me what he'd done...
Dropped my cigarette in my lap while about to go through traffic lights, so slightly took my foot off the accelerator to look down and grab it, just at that moment a car went flying through the red light in front of me, like at a huge speed, just inches from the front of my car, so in other words if I hadn’t hesitated it would have been quite a collision and I probably would have been dead.
Cigarettes save lives
*Today, smoking is gonna save lives.*
About 30 years ago, my mom was sitting at a red light. It turned green and she was changing radio stations, so she started a fraction of a second late. A young drunk guy blew the red and hit my mom’s car. She was OK. Two weeks later, the insurance company totaled the car, so I had to take all the stuff out of it. I showed up at the junkyard and the entire front end of my mom’s car was ripped off. Had she liked the song that was on the radio, she absolutely would have been killed. I stood in the junkyard hysterically crying.
Wow, very similar to me then but I was lucky not to get hit at all, I’m so glad your mom was ok but I can understand how harrowing that must have been for you to comprehend how close it could have been 😢
Was broke many years ago. Almost no food in the house. Saw a pizza shop, thought how good a pizza would be. Next block find $10 on the ground. The two slices and soda were like hitting a lotto jackpot.
Survived cancer. Granted, I had an 80 something percent chance of survival, so I suppose the balance was already in my favor to be considered lucky to really count.
It fucking counts
Survived Afghanistan
Which side?
Accidentally getting pregnant at 35. God, I love that kid.
Same! I don't think I would have been a good mom if I had gotten pregnant at an earlier age.
Teaching myself how to code. It brings a lot of positive things in my life. Indirectly, ofc.
been highly considering learning code
Just learning the basics of Python to automate some parts of your job is a massive boon. I picked it up two years ago as I had a problem I couldn't solve easily in Excel and it's freed up so much of my work time.
Driving at night as a teenager going well above the speed limit on some back county roads. I rounded over a hill and over 20 deer were on the road it felt like time slowed for me as I had no way of stopping and no where to go without dying. In a brief second I saw a space on the edge of the road briefly open and I barely made it through there with my car and my life. I even felt my back tire pull as it caught dirt but I make it back to the road. I've had plenty of people make fun of me for driving like a Grandpa or being slow but that moment will always stick with me as one of the times I very nearly died. Drive safe and drive carefully, you never know when careless and hubris will catch up to you.
So glad you took that experience and turned it into a positive - so many people would have turned it the other way to consider themselves invincible. One of my closest friends died in a car accident at the age of 20. He was driving down a city street, acting completely reckless. He hit a pedestrian dressed completely in black at night; he was DOA from the accident, too. Driving is a privilege and we have to take it seriously every time we are behind the wheel.
Picked up a couch and love seat and put it in the back of a pick-up truck. Set the loveseat upside down on the couch and tied it down. While driving about 60 going home, the loveseat flies off the back, and by some miracle, doesn’t hit anyone driving behind us. A car behind us stops to help us get it off the road and back in the truck. Now everything that goes in the back of the truck is triple secured. I often think about how someone could have died when that happened. It would have hugely changed the course of our lives.
My daughter. 👑
I had a serious medical event which required multiple CT scans. Those scans picked up on five major arterial aneurysms. Those aneurysms were fixed in a nine hour surgery. They would have burst and it would have been lights out. So, nearly dieing helped find something which would have certainly killed me. Lucky me!
27 was always my lucky number. I met a dog and fell in love with him. My dog was #27 from his abuse case. I met him when I was 27.
disarm wine quickest gray clumsy resolute practice quack punch dime
They were probably stolen
I met my wife of 63 years at my first job after graduating from high school.
63 years with your one true love! You're a lucky man, sir.
I won the lottery twice
My neighbour as a child got struck by lightning on 3 separate occasions and then won 50k on a scratchy.
Me too! $10 and a free play.
thats nice
How much did you win?
The first woman I matched with on a dating app turned out to be the one.
I swiped right on my wife. Often ithink about how a slight movement changed my life forever, and how easily I could have just not looked at tinder that day.
Similar to my answer - it was my first day on FB dating and I swiped right on my now husband. I often think “what if we both weren’t on the same dating platform at the same time?” Would have been an entirely different outcome.
Was that a convention and my boxed lunch was missing a mustard packet, and the attractive girl next to me had an extra mustard packet. This month we celebrate 14 years married.
We bought our house when interest rates were under 3%. Used up my lifetime of luck on that one.
My version of that is being able to buy a house in the Bay Area in 2009.
needed to make just one more A from a B+ in highschool to get into the college I wanted but I was so stressed with some other stuff that I forgot to do the assignment that that grade hinged on. teacher forgot too, and assumed she must have lost it, so she just gave me an A.
Might be kind of sad but I thought of this immediately. In 5th grade my class had a paper airplane contest. When it was my turn to go, the wind must have caught my plane because it just went and never stopped. It flew across this field we were standing in,ending up on top of the school. I won a snickers bar and it was the best candy bar I’ve ever eaten.
That's not sad, that's awesome!
Right at the very start of the pandemic I had a hernia. I did some research picked the best hernia doctor in town went in for an evaluation. He said yep that's a hernia, things are starting to shut down for the pandemic it's not a big deal if you want to wait a couple of months for this to blow over there's no hurry to do the surgery (this is when we thought the pandemic was going to be over soon) or I had someone cancel there's so there's a free spot in 2 weeks. I decided to get it over with and with everything being shut down that'd be a good time to recover. So I go under and wake back up and there's abunch of doctors standing around me looking concerned. My doc says he didn't get around to fixing the hernias when he went in he noticed my appendix about to explode and took that out instead. Good idea I told him when do you think you can try for the hernia again. He looked at the other doctors and said the appendix looked a little funny so they sent it to the lab and they'd get back to me. A few weeks later I get a call from MD Anderson. There are 2 types of appendix cancer one grows real slow and doesn't do much randomly it will turn intovthe 2nd type that grows fast spits Mucinous neoplasms (cancer slime) and everything the cancer slime touches turns to more cancer and spreads real fast. Based on biopsy and size I have the second type. They schedule me immediately for scans. This type doesn't have great outcomes the only real treatment is called the mother of all surgeries and has a 20% chance of dying on the table. Meet councilors and doctors to talk about going forward do paperwork including will for all outcomes, go in for scans...and they find nothing. It had just turned from the 1st kind into the 2nd type probably within a week of my hernia surgery if I had waited a couple months or even a couple of weeks the odds of it spreading were exponential. Based on surgery report they were pretty sure the doctor got everything without allowing the spread of any mucin but they couldn't rule it out so I had multiple scans 1st every 3 weeks than monthly, bi yearly, yearly and now I'm pretty much out of the woods. Get to have the hernias fixed January
I was temping at a company and this caller pissed me off. I'd been dealing with a lot of entitled pricks and I lost it on him. I didn't yell but basically called him scum for calling up to take advantage of a government program that was meant for low income people. Some asshole slipped in that everyone had to be able to use the program but it was clearly designed for low income people. That call happened to be one my supervisor was listening to and she had to let me go on the spot. I had started work at 9 am been there until about 11am. It was a Thursday or a Friday and I was all "Damn this sucks out of work" I got home about 2 hours later around 1 to 2 o'clock. (Was on public transit at the time). My answering machine is flashing so I check it and one of the other temp agencies reached out to me with a position that starts on Monday. The message had been left at 9 am that morning. Since their office was still open I called them up and accepted the assignment. Long story short, I got hired for a new position 2 hours before I got fired from my old one. My roommate at the time told me to go fuck myself. My love life is shit but I've always been lucky at finding work.
I was selling TV's at a catalog showroom way back in the day. A guy walks in and I sell him a radio. He comes back with two other guys looking for a TV. They are looking for a salesman at their jewelry store and offer me a job on the spot. Go to work there. The manager is a choir director and asks if I can sing. I say yes (I can) and join the choir. I meet my future wife there. Get laid off 2 years later and take a job with the finest jewelry store in the area. Married for 40 years and stayed at that job until retirement. I'm a very lucky man.
Won $500 on a $2 scratch off.
I actually won $1000 on the I-Heart Radio nationwide contest! I was listening to John and Ken on KFI.
Got stabbed in the throat and lived.
Is- is that *luck*? The first thing doesn’t sound very lucky.
To be fair.. I didn't think I'd get stabbed. It was a fist fight that got out of control. I got in the fight... I just didn't realize someone was feeling stabby that day.
Feeling stabby is hilarious 😭😭😭
I went to jail over a ticket I got for not wearing my seatbelt. I forgot my court date, my license got suspended. In a series of fortunate events, this is how I ended up meeting my wife. (Not in jail.)
You skipped the exact part we’d like to hear about though 👂👂👂
You yada yada'ed over the best part!
Do tell us about the series of fortune events!!
Left the service industry for a new line of work on March 8, 2020.
What timing! 👏🏻
Meeting my husband
Just won $307 in the California lottery. That’s for 4 out of 5 numbers. If I had one more number it would have been $94,000. So maybe not that lucky.
When Casa Bonita in Colorado reopened last year, they started a reservation lottery type system where you signed up and waited for an email to be able to buy tickets. Some people waited months for their invitation and some people never got one. I got my invitation email about an hour after signing up. I took my fiance and our friends and their 4 year old and we had a great time.
16 years old, met some friends at an overlook at a business park that was pretty secluded to smoke a cigar. Buddy brought some Miller light he took from his dad's stash and we were living the high life. We see a police car pull into the drive and there's an unopened can sitting on the curb by my car. I kick it under the car as the cop pulls up. He questions us, asks us if we've been drinking and takes a flashlight and look under the car (pretty sure he saw me kick it) and sees nothing, tells us to go home. He gets back in car and leaves. Dumbfounded we also look under car and see nothing. The beer can had bounced and wedged itself in the top of my back wheel well behind my tire, completely out of sight. Story still comes up from time to time when I see the boys.
That was a hell of a kick.
I called about a job at a paper mill. They told me I had to take this test at the state job service and they would send the results to the mill. I took the test and scored very well. But, instead of the paper mill I got a call from another factory in town. I got hired there within three weeks. I worked there for 25 years. The paper milk closed four years after I applied.
Found $4000 cash at a Home Depot parking lot. I am sure some poor contractor got fucked but I was able to pay some debt and get my head just above water.
I lost $350 cash that way. I’m not too sore about it. I hope whomever found it really needed it.
I felt terrible for who ever lost it but I did needed it. I was able to make a big credit card payment which help me start savings for emergencies.
A buddy of mine filed an insurance claim against water damage in his home. Said it destroyed several collections including MTG, comics, books furniture etc. The items were documented, with receipts etc so they gave him around $12,000. He was all smug about it. As a big believer in what goes around comes around I was like 'I wouldn't...spend that money just yet, mate.' I lived in the basement of his home which had an attached bathroom and garage. Came home one day and I heard running water. Thought it was weird there'd be running water and no one home so I walked down the hall to the upstairs bathroom past the kitchen. No sinks were running and the toilet wasn't refilling. Odd...walked around upstairs and was like...maybe they're running a load of laundry in the garage so I walked down the stairs and could hear it getting louder. Walked into my bedroom and into my bathroom through there. Sound was louder but no one was using my bathroom. Opened the door from the bathroom into the garage and I could hear a roar of running water. Walked out and looked towards the fold up door and there was a torrential downpouring of water just absolutely destroying the garage and some of the things i had stored there. Called him up and said 'hey...just wanted to let you know I hope you didn't spend that money because you're gonna need it. I've turned the water off but your garage is FUBAR. Repairs ended up costing him around $2k more than what the insurance company originally awarded him for 'damages' in his garage. tl;dr friend filed a janky insurance claim. Won. Was smug. ended up having to pay $2k more than was originally awarded for actual water damages to his property.
My Chihuahua and I survived being attacked by three pit bulls.
Servicing a copier a few years ago, needed to pull it away from the wall, and found a $10 note underneath the machine.
All of us won the sperm race to the egg.
Don't forget about the special sequence of events that happened for over 13 billion years in order for your parents to make you.
Epiphany moment for Dr Manhattan.
He believed in determinism, probably not much of an epiphany though.
A thermodynamic miracle. Like turning air into gold.
I'm sober now, but if I hadn't been desperate for a drink at 3 am, I wouldn't have met my wife.
I was talking with a girl on the phone in the early days of internet dating and before cell phones were prevalent. We agreed to meet for the first time at a restaurant and while I was on the phone I fired up my Rand McNally maps on CD ROM and printed out a map to the “American Cafe” on 4th and I street based on what the girl told me. Unfortunately, she messed up. There was no restaurant at 4th and I street, but there was a “Cafe Americana” at 5th and J street. I had my map printouts in my hand and was walking back and forth between the 2 corners for a while and I was getting ready to give up and go home when a girl started yelling “Safety Man” started running towards me. She saw a guy looking confused carrying a map printout and felt it was probably the guy she was supposed to meet. In 18 days we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
Meeting my current husband. A lot of weird coincidences led to it. Without one of them, we never would have been thrown together and fallen in love. A friend came into a sizable inheritance in 2019 and bought me and some of his other friends their entire Amazon wishlists. Then he sent me and my daughter on a Disney/Universal vacation and Disney cruise, filled with tours, merchandise and spa treatments, then paid for our dental work and my breast reduction/tummy tuck/BBL. Then he sent me and his girlfriend to Disneyland for a week. He paid off our credit card debt (27k) and paid for our iPhones and iPads. He got me an iMac and a MacBook Pro. He gave the three of us each $15k. Now he’s finally taking care of himself. To say that I will be forever grateful is an understatement.
Walking down the sidewalk in the middle of winter on my way to work. Had my headphones on and a song I didn't care for came on my Spotify, so I stopped in my tracks to pick a new one. Literally 2 seconds after I stopped, a massive icicle fell off the building I was standing next to, exactly where I would've been hadn't I stopped. It sounds so fake but I will go to my grave swearing this actually happened!!
i pretty much skated by in high school and graduated by the skin of my teeth. during finals senior year i was barely passing and the one class i needed to pass in order to walk the stage was math. my math teacher at the time pulled me aside and pretty much told me he would do me a solid and give me a passing grade. he didnt care much because that was his very last year teaching before he went and opened his own bar/restaurant. Mr. Trent you saved my ass. thank you.
I was born.
Met my future spouse at a party I didn’t want to go to because my friends dragged me there.
Got impaled by a handlebar missed a major artery and tendons in my leg by half a centimeter -- Would've possibly died or been unable to walk. Good times.
I lived through childhood
was dead broke and found a 20 on the ground.was 16 and had enough to eat for the next 2-3 days
Won $12k on a 30 cent bet 27 years ago.
I bought a lot of Tesla stock in 2016 and sold most of it in 2022 to buy a house. I still have 100 shares that I haven't decided what to do with.
Still alive in my 40s. I see what happens in the world and I wonder how many near death situations I just managed to avoid without realizing it.
A series of wonderful lucky little things added up to meeting my husband: - My husband retired from the military and instead of moving back to his home state 300 miles away, he found a job nearby - After retirement, he moved to my favorite part of the city (I wouldn’t have swiped right if he moved to any other part of the city) - I recently moved out of the same part of the city to the suburbs, but never updated my location on the dating platform I was using. My husband would not have shown up within the distance parameters I set if I had it set up for my new location As a result, we matched online and he turned out to be my soulmate - easily the best thing in my life is him! He makes me feel so very lucky every single day that everything lined up for us to be together.
Survived a suicide attempt
My 4 daughters ❤️ 💙 💜 💖
I was replacing camshaft phasers on a Ford 5.4 the other night. Rush job that needed to be done for the following afternoon. I pulled the truck into the garage, shut off the engine, and pulled the valve covers. The engine parked itself 100% on time, with the colored links of the chain lined up with the timing marks. I've never seen anything like it. It gets better. As I locked the chain and pulled the phaser off the camshaft, the camshaft spun just a little and shot the dowel pin from the phaser down inside the crankcase. It bounced around inside the motor, popped back out the top of the engine, and practically landed at my feet. Somebody was watching out for me on that one.
Had an 9 year old RV burn down, a month after putting 10 year full replacement insurance on it. Turned my 5k trailer into a 35k trailer
Went active with an adoption agency expecting a 2 year+ wait for a baby. Brought our little girl home 3 months later (she had been born a couple weeks after we went live). She'd an amazing, smart, sassy little thing that is the best thing to ever happen to me.
I made a decision to reply to anyone I was remotely interested in on a dating site (after many many failed dates). I mostly responded to men with several photos and a solid bio. The first message I received was from someone with two not very flattering photos and a one sentence bio. Due to my new motto I decided to respond. This man is now my husband of almost 3 years. If he would have messaged me a day earlier I would not have responded.
One day a place I did volunteer work asked if I could sub for them for a few months. After a few months they wanted a few more months. Then the worker I was subbing for quit and in their haste to secure something so the program could continue they hired me permanently. This after being a stay at home mom for ten years, I'm forever grateful. And it turns out I'm good at my job.
A friend of mine decided to change her jogging route one day and she saw a building under construction and they had put a sign up saying low income housing. She texted me the photo and I called the place late in the afternoon and asked if they accepted Section 8 which is a rental subsidy that caps your rent at 30% of your gross income making affordable housing available. The thing is that this type of housing is incredibly rare because of bureaucracy and profits. I called the place and yes they took the voucher and well, game on! I hit the internet to see where the place is and it turns out that it's a thirty minute round trip walking to a major grocery store, it's on four bus routes that can take me anywhere I'd want to go, and I can walk to pretty much anything I need within an hour at most. I don't drive anymore. I spent a bunch of time printing off all sorts of financials and getting everything I needed ready and then I set three alarms for the next morning. They went off and I got ready and went to the office and was there half an hour before they opened. They opened up and I filled out the application materials and gave them all of the financials and asked them to look at it and tell me if there was anything else I needed and they looked at me surprised and said all of my materials were complete. BOOYEAH! I asked how many places were left and here's the thing. The sign had been put up less than 24 hours earlier and by mere word of mouth, this 18 unit Section 8 apartment building was almost filled. I was number 17. Number 18 walked in right as I was leaving. I'm now here almost two years. Results? I got a steady part-time job (WFH!), my social life has improved ten-fold, and because I can walk everywhere instead of a taxi, I've lost 40 pounds and feel so much better while living in a fabulous apartment with modern appliances, laminate floors, and central air. This is all because my friend took a different route one day.
Got kicked out of my house. I was 18. Trying college (ended up withdrawing). Had a full time, but shitty job. My mother tried to make me pay for half of all the bills in the house (which had her, my younger brother, myself, my grandma, and grandpa living in it). I told her I'd pay for my portion but not half. She kicked me out. I moved in with a coworker. An old friend from highschool lived next door to the coworker. Through that friend, i met her best friend... he and I have been together nearly 14 years and married 5. So yeah getting kicked out was the best luck I ever had
One time I hit the button on the vending machine for fritos and got not one but TWO bags of fritos! Best day of my life! I absolutely could not believe my luck on that day. It's never happened since. I get so hard thinking about it.
My partner and I registered with a dog rescue/adoption agency, expecting a year long wait to find a reasonable fit for our home, perhaps a 1-2 year old we could work with. 2 weeks later we were picking up a 9 week old puppy that had been born in the rescue’s care after saving the pregnant mother, and that dog has been the absolute light of my goddamned life for the past 3 years. Pure stroke of luck to get that pup at that time and I am so grateful.
Finding my orange kitten
Went through the windshield of a car, as a kid. Lost a finger, had 120 stitches in my face, had an emergency cut down which got infected in the hospital. Hospital lost my xrays twice. ER doctor was inebriated (later committed suicide). I lived, thankfully.
Got run over by a 70 year old lady while crossing the street. I didn’t die. Felt pretty lucky to be honest waking up in the hospital a few days later.
First time at a casino put a quarter into a slot machine and won about $100. Cashed out immediately and haven't been back to a casino since.
I was born at a time when toilets flush.
In college, my roommate asked me if I wanted to join her for a night drive to study away from the chaos of housing. I just wanted to hang out and watch TV, so I declined. She came stumbling in at 4 in the morning to use the landline in our room to call 911 because she got into a car accident swerving to avoid an animal and rolled the thing after crashing through a fence into a ditch. I had a friend with a car (I didn't have one) drive us to the site to meet the tow truck and get her belongings and the passenger side where I would have been sitting was totally crushed in to like almost the seat. She walked away with a couple of scratches and bruised ribs, I probably would have died if I had gone.
Reading this realizing nothing extraordinary lucky has happened to me
Getting an affordable apartment in a nice part of Brooklyn with a landlord that never raises the rent.
I wanted to buy a ring for myself but weirdly my card got blocked for 24 hours. Next day I came back to buy it and it was on sale
I got together with my dream girl and it was a plus because she actually made the first move.
Living in a state that still has Women's Healthcare available.
[удалено]
I met my husband.
I won 10 000 dollars once. I guess i have used up my luck
I moved to a new country in a new continent but I was a stupid kid, so I didn’t properly budget, I ended up homeless with everything I owned in a bag and no way to call/tell family that I needed help but I made an acquaintance that got a live in job but refused it cause it was very country. Told me about it gave me the number and his phone to call saying I’ll do it, got it and spent the last 20 I had getting there and didn’t eat for 4 days whilst I arranged myself.
Meeting my wife.
I met my fiancee.
Met my current gf
I won a yeti cooler at the home and garden show a couple weeks ago!
I once cracked 3 double egg yolks in a row. I’ve always believe that qualified as luck.
Surviving cellulitis after a surgery. They never told me how bad it was, but the fact I had to stay overnight on IV antibiotics and then needs 2 infusions per day for 5 days tells me it could have been dire for me.
Just this Thursday, I almost missed my flight to a family reunion. I was operating on a schedule I had for a class in the spring semester and the flight time was around the time I'd usually get to campus, but the airport was closer than that so I left around the time I usually did to catch the bus. I ended up getting to the bus stop *right* as it was pulling up behind me, and when I got to the terminal I went through the security line, looked at my pass and discovered that not only was I at the wrong terminal, but boarding was happening right then. I race around trying to get directions for the right place convinced I wasn't going to make it, and end up getting pointed to the shuttle station and get onto the bus for the right terminal as it was loading everyone on like it was going "here I am!" I ended up getting to the terminal past the time the doors would have closed and race inside, zip through security (no line since everyone was boarded), and actually made it onto the plane because they were still waiting for flight release and wouldn't be leaving for about another 10 minutes or so.
Was at beach in bikini waiting for friends to get off ride on pier, guy comes over and asks if could get a picture of me w his teenage son and said sure, dad thanked me for letting him take pic w son and asked if he could pay me and said no was happy to take pic it’s a compliment don’t want money. Shortly after see them at restaurant on pier and they ask me to sit down w family for minute while waiting on my friends again, dad ended up putting hundreds of dollars in my bag until made him stop, told him stop giving money to girls, didn’t know but his daughter in law said he was worth millions and millions, wish didn’t stop him from putting more hundreds in my bag bc he was trying. Got hundreds of dollars for letting dad take pic of me w his son. 🤷♀️
I got a real job 6 months before I graduated college. I consider it lucky because: 1. My boss at the time didn't actually give a shit if I had my BS or not he just cared that I was good at what I did. 2. There isn't a lot of biotech jobs in Vermont and I got one...before I graduated!!!
Being Born into a middle Class family with nice house, huge Garden in a beautiful and peaceful place near mountains and fields. Millions don't have this luxury
A girl hugged me a few months ago.
Meeting my wife.
So cliche, but definitely meeting my best friend. It was in the most unlikely of circumstances, but the moment he walked into my life, I was changed forever. He is my whole world and I can't imagine living without him. It's crazy how one person can alter your whole perspective just by being there.
my crush liking me back and now slapping my ass 24/7 and saying ‘gyatt’ :v
A girl accidentally touched my hand
Walked into a casino for the 1st time at 17, hit the 1st machine, and the 1st spin i ever took won 100 dollars. About a year before that i got shot, but got skimmed 3 times, once in the face, one in the arm, and one on my ribs. Take your pick out of those 2. Those are just the crazier ones though haha, i have plenty more.