My life has never been short on adventure. I have traveled the country several times, been to many beautiful locations, and met holy people under auspicious conditions. During these adventures, some very unusual things happened.
When I was sixteen and working at Snow Lake Lodge in West Dover, Vermont, I was approached by a very anxious waiter. I was cooking that night as he begged me to fix his car. I told him I couldn't because I was working. My boss overheard the conversation and gave me permission to go out and get his car running.
I really didn't know what I was getting into, but I agreed to check it out. After trying several little tests, I tested the battery and found it was completely unresponsive. I even tried shorting the terminals, but there was no spark.
The waiter and a few of my co-workers were standing just a few feet behind me. My plan was to drop the hood and then turn around and tell them that the car was not going to start.
The moment the hood hit the body (and I was half turned) the car started. The waiter's face beamed as he reassured me he knew I could fix it all along.
He quickly got into his car... and just as quickly got out. He was puzzled and told me the key was still in the "off" position. He asked what he should do. I smiled as I told him to turn it on. He did and drove to Rhode Island with no further problems.
Granted, such situations are coincidental. There must have been a perfectly logical explanation for the car starting. But the second time this happened, the circumstances were a lot clearer to me.
I was driving with a friend of mine from Grand Junction, Colorado to my mother's house in Torrance, California. About 20 miles outside of Green River, Utah my air conditioner overheated.
I casually pulled off at my nearest convenience and disconnected the air conditioner belt. We closed the hood and got back into the car. When I turned the key, nothing happened. I tried the horn and the lights and there still was no response. We were both mechanically inclined and neither of us could understand why the electrical system would suddenly cease to work.
A bright light went off in the corner of my eyes and I was filled with joy. In a flash my inner voice told me exactly what to do to make the car start. I happily turned to my friend and told him how I was going to start the car. I would get out and kick the tire.
He obviously had thought I was kidding, but he got out of the car with me. He walked by the passenger tire as I approached the driver front tire. I gave the tire one swift kick.
The moment my toe touched the tire, the car started. My friend's jaw dropped open. We got back into the car and the key was still in the "off" position and I pointed this out. With the car still running I turned the key into the on position and we drove the rest of the way to California without difficulty.
Later in life, while I was living at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center another incident involving cars occurred.
I was working on a project when I was approached by one of my co-workers. She heard me tell of my car starting miracles and thought of me when she had heard there was someone in a hurry whose car would not start. I listened to my inner guidance to see whether or not this was something for me to fix. I heard that it was. So I went to see this person in the parking lot.
The lady was obviously anxious and I felt sorry for her because her leg was in a cast. I looked under her hood twice and could not figure the problem. I was ready to give up, but I saw she really had faith in my ability to start her car. So I listened from within and asked what to do. A bright flash went off in my mind and I told her to open her hood one more time. She did and I reached for the very first thing I found and pulled it off of the engine. It happened to be the main gas line feeding the carburetor. She turned the key and the car immediately started. I quickly re-attached the fuel line while the car continued to run. After closing the hood she drove happily away.
By the time I was 21 I had traveled quite a bit. I was in the Rocky Mountain resort area near Dillon, Colorado and working at Keystone Ski Area. I had been working there for 3 weeks and was really enjoying the work. My skills as a cook had earned me a good name in a short period of time and I was looking forward to a future as a head cook. Then that inner voice spoke to me and said it was time to go back to Vermont and get married. And like a simpleton, I went to my boss and told him I had to leave. He enquired as to why and I told him that I was going to be getting married. His face went strange as he pointed out to me that I hadn't mentioned any commitments earlier. I just felt lucky to get out of his office without looking like a total fool.
I made the drive back to Vermont in a car with no floor board under the driver's seat (the seat was held up by a board.) The brakes were probably down to bare metal, and one of the struts was leaning against the engine for support. As I was driving down the Rocky Mountains into Denver, Colorado, the lights on the dash board all came on and then burned out. About a mile further down the road the speedometer shot all the way to the maximum reading and then fell back to zero. The car looked like it was completely dead, but it kept driving all the way back to Vermont.
I went back to work at Snow Lake Lodge and resumed my kitchen duties. One of the waitresses came over and asked in her Southern drawl, "I thought you went out to Colorado, Dave." I replied to her that I had but I came back to get married. She was ecstatic and asked, "Who's the lucky girl?" I told her that I didn't know, I hadn't met her yet. Her reply sent me a reality check, "But most guys have a girl friend before they get married!"
I didn't know what to say, I was speechless. But two months later I was hitchhiking with my laundry on a cloudy, misty day. A pickup truck stopped and I threw my laundry into the back. I was fully in my seat when I first turned to see the driver.
As soon as my eyes alighted on her, a blinding flash went off in both corners of my eyes. I was filled with the greatest joy my heart was capable of experiencing. That little voice spoke to me and said, "Here is your mate as I promised."
I later learned her name to be Nancy. Within a few weeks we planned to get married.
After Nancy became pregnant, it was her idea to name our first child Dana. It was then that I remembered the vision I had at the age of eleven. The voice spoke to me then and told me that Nancy and I would be married for five years and then I would go to live in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. I told Nancy what my inner voice was saying and she felt comfortable with it.
The following Spring Nancy was noticeably pregnant and we had a generous offer to remain living with Nancy's parents. Although it was a pleasant situation to live with them on a farm, my inner voice told me that our home lie elsewhere. I went driving along the roads one day, looking for land. I saw several places for sale, but my attention landed on a an old gravel pit and lumber mill which was overgrown with brush. There was a mobile home on the lot, but the roof was collapsed.
I went to the nearest real estate agent and asked about the property. It was just going on the market that week. I made an offer and it was accepted. A month later, after clearing the land, I heard someone was giving away a mobile home. I asked about it and soon I was the owner. Before the year was over, I was living in the Green Mountains of Vermont in my own mobile home with my wife Nancy and my daughter Dana on the way. Vincent joined us two years later.