A Sign from the Shuffle Gods
Estimated reading time: 1 minute (or watch the video!)
I was working a relatively long flight to Vancouver, Canada.
Both passengers and crew were subconsciously looking for ways to pass the time. One especially nice man approached the galley and asked us for a beverage, so we all seized the opportunity to make friendly conversation. I took out the book and asked for his song.
It turned out he was with the Canadian military. After the October 7 attacks in Israel, he had been assigned to help find and rescue some of the Canadian citizens trapped there. His team found them and got them safely to a bomb shelter—but as soon as they got inside, they found themselves under heavy fire.
The scene was incredibly intense for about 5–6 minutes, and he wasn’t sure everyone was going to make it out alive. But they all managed to escape. They jumped into a vehicle and sped away as fast as possible.
Once they had reached a safe distance, they pulled over at an abandoned gas station, where he inspected the vehicle for damage. Everything looked secure enough for them to continue moving, so he climbed back inside.
Finally, he had a chance to breathe, center himself, and process what had just happened. He grabbed his headphones to help him regroup for a second. As he brought the headphones closer, he heard faint music playing, and suddenly realized it had been on shuffle the entire time.
It’s likely any familiar song would’ve provided a sense of comfort at that moment, allowing him to reflect on how fortunate they’d all been to make it out relatively unscathed. But as soon as the music finally touched his ears, he burst into giddy laughter.
It was Gloria Gaynor belting out “I Will Survive.”
How about you?
Have you ever had the perfect song play at the exact right moment? What was the song? What was the moment? Share your experiences below :)