Big And Small Triumphs
Sometimes, we just can’t catch a break. Bad luck—or just plain bad events—seems to follow us around, and we start to think we’ll never get a win. But these stories prove otherwise.
Redditors shared their best comebacks, so get ready for a heartwarming ride.
1. Nice Guys Finish First
I’m in a wheelchair. I have been stood up the last four times when going out on a date.
I've had everything happen to me, from not answering the phone when I'm down the road from her house, calling me during the drive over and making up excuses and then never calling again, to actually a girl looking at my legs with a stare and saying "
I don't think I can do this”.
Just when I thought that it was almost hopeless, finally, it happened...This time, the girl did not stand me up. We spent eight hours tonight and had the best date of our lives, and she even said so. It finally happened. It finally happened.
Score one for nice guys!
2. Destiny Calls
Some years ago I was flying to Miami, through NY from across the Atlantic, to start my one-year backpacking trip from the US to Colombia. I had worked for two years, saving money for this trip while living at my parents.
I had all my money in cash, with my plane ticket, passport, and driver's license in a plastic envelope. I promptly put the envelope in the compartment in the seat in front of me and fell asleep during the flight.
I leave the plane, my uncle picks me up from the airport, and drives me to his house.
Two days later, I make a horrific realization. I realize I don't have the envelope with me and I panic. I figure out that I must've left it in the plane, so I immediately call the airport and the airline. I get to the point where a lady is talking to me from the same seat I sat in and says that there is nothing to be found.
Naturally I'm devastated. I spent one of the worst days of my life. Then stars align in the most bizarre way. I get a call from a friend of mine who tells me he's in NY and has been looking for my phone number for three days!
He tells me that during the flight he started feeling nauseated and goes to grab the paper bag to relieve himself, when he finds $6,500 in cash and my passport and driver’s license. He can't believe his eyes.
He then proceeded to wire the money and FedEx the documents, basically saving my life. The year I spent backpacking was one of the best experiences I've had and wouldn't trade it for anything.
This happened nine years ago, and I call my friend every April 23rd to thank him and destiny for saving my butt.
3. Drinks On Me
I actually won a free dinner at a local three-star restaurant recently—however, though the food was free, the alcoholic drinks weren’t. I knew a guy who was down on his luck so I asked him if he wanted to have the dinner with me.
He accepted graciously as he was living off of ramen noodles and living with a friend.
We had a great meal and I had a few lagers during the meal, yet he had water. The meal was coming to an end and I asked him if he wanted something to drink besides water. He told me that he could not afford it as he knew that drinks like that were not included in our meal. But I had just the plan.
I "went to the bathroom" and asked the waiter to give him a margarita and tell my friend that it was on the house. When I got back, my friend looks at me and just smiled as half of his margarita was gone.
We stayed at that restaurant for another hour talking about the good times of our friendship while drinking, on my tab. He is one of my best friends today and is doing much better in life now.
4. A Little Slice Of Heaven
After a virus as a kid, my body was borked to the point where, when this story takes place, I can’t walk very well at all and I'm weak as a kitten. I can walk a little, even though I look ridiculous whilst doing it. I do need a wheelchair to get around, but I don't own one at the moment.
There are reasons for this, but I won’t go into them now. So long story short, I'm housebound a lot, can't do many fun activities that people usually like sharing, and I'm a pain to hang out with. I tend to need propping up if walking longer than just down my garden path, I can be embarrassing because of how I look when I walk, how out of breath I get because of the stiffness and pain etc.
I didn't think I'd find anyone to put up with any of this. My experiences just confirmed this suspicion. I've had massive blows to my confidence. I had one incredibly painful heartbreak. I've had people being cruel.
I stopped trusting people. I thought that I had pretty much no luck left when it came to dating. That my situation was just too far gone. But then everything changed. I got brave on OkCupid. I don't know where I got that courage from after everything, but I saw a guy and I messaged him.
I was very honest on my profile about my disability, and that caused me to not get many replies or messages at all. Plus, if we're honest, I'm not a hottie—at least not enough for people to overlook the other stuff.
I really liked the sound of this guy, really did.
But I had liked the sound of guys before, people I had lots in common with, and never got replies. I definitely wouldn't get a reply from this guy…He replied. And he kept replying.. Then we kept chatting. Then we met up in my home town.
I remember the first time seeing him face to face. I knew he was quite good-looking from his pictures…but they did not do him justice. My legs would have turned to jelly, if they weren't pretty much jelly already.
My first thought was 'Welp, I'm screwed. Let’s be honest, a guy that good-looking doesn't need to bother with a slightly unattractive disabled girl no matter how great we get on”. The words “Welp, I'm screwed” were literally in my head as I looked at his face, as he said hello.
I was smiling at myself. He probably thought I was just being happy, smiling politely. I was actually smiling morbidly at myself in an “Oh god, this is so ridiculous, what am I doing, why did I agree to this, when is he going to start running” way. I was proven so wrong.
After that first meet, he kept bothering with me. Then one time, he bothered to kiss me. I've gotten on brilliantly well with guys before, but it's mostly ended up with them referring to me as “bro”—not a kiss. I was so nervous.
Oh God, I had forgotten how to kiss…but that's okay. He just kept doing it.
I'm still sitting here, not really understanding how I got so lucky. I still worry that he won’t put up with me being disabled for long, but he doesn't seem to have a problem with it for now.
He offers to take me places, tells me he'll make sure I get around okay.
I feel like I'm somehow tricking him, sometimes. He looks at me and treats me like I'm just another human being, another worthwhile human being. It's been a while since that happened. He looks at me in a way that I didn't really look at myself.
I must be tricking him into doing that. It's confusing to me. Is he just going to snap out of it one day? Or perhaps someone is tricking me. This is all a big joke.
Then I remember the time we were sitting in my room, watching a film, and he had his arm around me, my head on his chest.
I remember how he was stroking my back with his fingers. I remember him tracing a love heart on my bare skin. I remember smiling, and cuddling up closer to him as he kissed the top of my head.
And remembering that makes me think things will be okay, at least for a while.
