Mr. Miracles

Today was one of those days when I wondered, "Is this really my life...or am I on a sitcom and no one told me?"

My key objective for the day was to buy bedroom furniture for our guest room and have it delivered to our apartment. Easy enough.

It all started with my first taxi ride on my own. I told the driver where I wanted to go and he just stared at me. I gave him a map, pointed, and repeated the location. Apparently what I was saying and the location on the map didn't make sense to him because he began to shake his head and continued to stare. Finally, I just pointed to the map and said, "Take me here"...and we were off like a shotgun blast.

The ride was fairly uneventful until all of a sudden the driver shouted, "Tunnel ahead!" I didn't know if I was supposed to respond or not, so I just said, "Okay." Then he again shouted "Tunnel ahead, ma'am!" I wondered if he was trying to tell me I was supposed to pay the toll to get through the tunnel. I said, "Yes" and got out my billfold. He repeated, urgently, "Tunnel ahead!!" I was struggling to figure out what to do and anxiously awaited instruction of what to do. Strangely, we went through the tunnel without a word. I never figured out what all the shouting was about and I was ready to get out of that taxi - the driver and I didn't have good chemistry.

I arrived at the place I planned to pick up the furniture. I'm not graceful on a good day and I should have been paying attention as I walked across a black marble floor. I missed a 4" step, fell flat, arms spread side-to-side, papers flying everywhere. No one stopped to ask if I was okay, but a few seconds later a security guard walked over and pointed at the step and said, "There is a step." Very helpful.

Then, I met our delivery person. When you need to have furniture delivered in HK, you hire "a man with a van" to do it. There are lots of people in the business. The two we had used previously weren't available, so I contacted a "Mr. Miracles" for this delivery.

I was excited to meet someone with such a great name...and Mr. Miracles did not disappoint. He was a hyper-active, older Chinese man who was in constant motion with a grin from ear-to-ear. As he was packing the furniture, he called out "you know why I called Miracles?" Between issuing orders to his assistant in Cantonese, he told me the story (I wasn't always sure when the Cantonese ended and the English began...so I missed parts of his tale). He is a "holistic healer" and has made people who have chronic or accute illness well. People said "it's a miracle!" so often, he decided to change his name to Mr. Magic Miracles. Naturally.

I wound up riding back to our apartment in the van with Mr. Miracles and his assistant. As we were cruising down the Hong Kong highway in a battered delivery van, with the windows rolled down, and heat rolling in (this was when I really wondered what happened to my normal life), he shared many stories and provided written testimonials from the healed. He would point to testimonials and shout "a miracle!", "another miracle!", "that's why I Mr. Miracles!" His assistant kept looking at me...I couldn't tell if she wondered if I was convinced or if she thought he was a madman. I asked him his secret and he said "All about circulation! I fix with my bare hands!"

The whole trip was hilarious. Mr. Miracle provided me with his business card. Who knew you could call one number to get assistance with "transport" AND "health problem" ?!

Mr. Miracles may have been crazy, but I liked him. He's like a character out of a movie. The entertainment value he provides makes him our "man with a van" of choice. As for the healing, who knows, maybe he's onto something. I'll let you know if he helps with any "health problem" in the future. :)