Do you believe in fate? That everything happens for a reason? That some things are just meant to be? If so, then read on.

I was out to dinner with my family a few weeks ago, enjoying a nice meal, when one of the servers brought out a plate of lovely, sizzling hot coconut shrimp and set it down right in front of me. I love coconut shrimp, and my husband and I marveled at what gorgeous shrimp it was. It made my mouth water.

The thing of it was, neither of us had ordered coconut shrimp. I wanted to keep it anyway, but my better half pointed out that it wouldn’t be right. That some hungry diner had actually ordered that coconut shrimp and was most likely sitting nearby, anxiously waiting for it. Grrrr! I hate it when he plays the ethics and fairness cards on me! Of course, he was right. I reported the mistake to our server, who promptly took the shrimp away and delivered it to its rightful owner.

This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.