When looking at odd coincidences and the strange nature some
peoples' fate seems to have, it seems some people truly do have
something else looking out for them in the world. Such was the case of
two lovers who had never met, but had chosen the same location to die.
And the story that could have ended in tragedy instead ended in wedding
bells.
When 26 year old Andriej Ivanov met his first
fiancee, he was certain he had found the only woman in his life that
would make his life complete. The two grew close and even intended to
get married. And then one day before their wedding day he received a
phone call. His wife to be had been in a car crash. The strange twist
of fate sent Andriej into a spiraling depression and he resolved that
there was nothing left for him on Earth. As he made his way to the
bridge in the city of Ufa, he had made the tragic decision to end his
life that day. What he found instead was a woman climbing over the
railings ahead of him, intending herself to jump.
Suddenly
perspective hit Andriej as he saw the girl ready to plummet to her own
death in the river below. He rushed to save her, shouting stop. The
girl fell into his arms sobbing. The fall would have been 100 feet into
the Belaya River which would have killed both of them within minutes.
As she explained her situation, Andriej learned that her name was Maria
Petrova and she too had been handed a bad twist of fate. After she had
gotten pregnant, her parents had thrown her out of their house. Her
boyfriend had left her and now she was alone in the world.
And
yet they had each other. They talked throughout the night, each
telling the other about their long tragic lives and Andriej even told
her about his wedding that never ended up happening because his fiancee
had been killed in a car crash. They made an agreement to help each
other through this hard time and soon became close friends and then
decided to get married. "He was my savior - my knight in shining
armor," Maria said. Andriej now says the pain he felt was worth it if
it meant he would find happiness in the end.
Whether life
is guided by a predestined set of events, or if it's made by choices
acting on free will is of much debate among philosophers, but most
people will probably agree that both of these lovers' journeys ended
better than they had begun that day. Finding out that two people had
killed themselves on the same bridge on the same day seems like a crazy
coincidence, but for those people to have instead of dying found
themselves and actually fallen in love with one another seems almost
beyond chance. It seems almost as though there were some other force
watching over the both of them and taking pity on them in what could
have been their final moments.
