WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

May 30, 2014.

Have you ever found yourself to be in the right place at the planned time but the strangest thing happened? Is this what some deem to be a "coincidence?" Or, was this actually a moment in time that is already a part of your destiny in life that makes you think back and laugh at how something all so innocent can seem all so wrong.

I found myself in that very moment tonight yet while it was happening, I was completely oblivious to it. A mate of mine named Jeff called me and asked if I could meet with him, his wife Jennifer, and their five-week-old baby daughter, Avery, while on my way home from work as he wanted to get copies of Through the Eyes of a Belfast Child. My son Ciarán was with me so I figured we would only be a few minutes.

Upon reaching the car park, Jeff and I stood and chatted whereby he let me know his sister, Sherri, also wanted copies of my book and was making her way over.

Now, picture this. After ten minutes, Sherri arrives. As a group of adults standing in a car park, Sherri has the trunk of her car open and along with Jennifer, are standing with money in their hands. I have a box (of books) on top of my trunk while personalizing copies. Unfortunately, Jennifer had accidentally locked the keys in their truck after feeding Avery. As such, Jeff decided to break into his own truck to rescue the keys.

All the while, a police car had pulled into the same car park as us and was watching from a short distance what was going on. A "break-in" was in progress, one vehicle had its trunk open, another vehicle had a suspicious box on top of it, two woman standing with money in their hands, and me leaning over a vehicle making some sort of transaction.

As I was busy signing books, I had no idea what was going on. The next thing Jeff, Jennifer, and Sherri knew was that the police came over to our vehicles to investigate. I am sure from a distance it must have looked like they would need to jump into action. However and upon slowing down and seeing me signing books, I believe Winnipeg's Finest gained a much better understanding as to what was actually "going down."

And so for my first mini public book signing, it was an experience that taught me a lesson: all is not what it seems to be. Moreover, it also gave me a chance to donate two softcover editions as part of a Silent Auction draw that will be held to help a charity that Sherri works with called Koffi's Children Organization, whose goal is to provide orphaned and disadvantaged children in Togo, West Africa, with Life Essentials.

What are the chances?