In every issue of Mysterious Ways, we share news stories from around the world that seem to suggest a benevolent force is at work in our day-to-day lives. Here are just a few wonderful stories from this week’s headlines that beg the question—who’s pulling our strings?
Five years ago, Brown University student Eugenia Zuroski bought a book, Consuming Subjects: Women, Shopping, and Business in the Eighteenth Century. She wrote her name and the date on the title page.
The book was influential in Eugenia’s studies, but sometime after she moved to Canada for an associate professor position, she lent her well-worn copy to a student and never got it back.
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Years later, she finally decided to go online and buy another copy. It arrived with a worn sticker from the Brown University bookstore on the back. Imagine her surprise when she opened it to find her name and the date on the title page.
“I put it down for a second and picked it back up to make sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing,” Eugenia told Mashable. Through Twitter, she’s offered amnesty to the book thief and amazement at what she feels is a “cosmic sign.”
Somewhat regret not answering the question about “cosmic signs” simply, Yes.
— Gena Zuroski (@zugenia) January 11, 2017
Disoriented and in pain after a fall, 80-year-old Halene Johnson of Taylorsville, Utah, had precious little time to call for help. She grabbed the phone and dialed her son’s number.
Instead, she reached an on-duty detective with the West Valley City Police Department. “She sounded like she was kind of out of it, which kind of piqued my interest—made me start thinking, ‘Hey there’s something wrong here,’” Detective Dana Pugmire told ABC 4 News.
The detective sent paramedics right away. Halane calls it a “miracle” misdial—the detective’s number was just one digit off from her son’s. “He actually took the time to stay on the phone with me,” Halane says, “he didn’t just hang up, and he could’ve done that so easily.”
On New Year’s Eve, Bob, a 64-year-old from Michigan, also suffered a life-threatening fall, after he left his home to retrieve firewood and slipped on the ice. He broke his neck and couldn’t move, flat on his back in the snow, in sub-zero temperatures.
According to McLaren Hospital in Petosky, Michigan, the only reason he survived was his devoted Golden Retriever, Kelsey. “She kept barking for help but never left my side,” Bob says. The dog lay across his body and shielded him against the wind and the cold all night. “She kept me warm and alert. I knew I had to persevere through this and that it was my choice to stay alive.”
After 19 hours, Kelsey’s howls finally drew the attention of a neighbor, who called 911. Doctors were able to repair Bob’s spine and remarkably, he’d suffered no frostbite. Dr. Chaim Colen, the doctor who performed Bob’s surgery was stunned that he’d suffered no long-term paralysis. “After the surgery, miraculously, he started to move his extremities.”
Have you ever met your “doppelganger,” a person who looks like your twin? 17-year-old Santana Gutierrez of Las Vegas did while at a mall in San Diego, when a young woman stopped to tell her about the Save the Children charity:
The girls couldn’t get over the uncanny resemblance. Santana tweeted about their run-in, but it didn’t stop there. Another girl responded to the tweet—a third look-a-like. And then a fourth. Pretty soon, Santana had connected with dozens of others from around the globe. “So many things had to happen,” Santana told Buzzfeed.
Santana was at a mall she never would have gone to if not for an appointment that day at the Apple Store, and she was in the right place at the right time to hear her twin make her Save the Children pitch. “It would be so funny for all of us to meet one day to see each other in person.”
What miraculous stories have made the news in your town? Send your “Wonderful World” stories to us, and if we publish them in the magazine we’ll give you $25!
