Today, I was late to work. We should have left the house early in order to take Gracie to daycare and then Jackson to school before I went to work. We didn’t, and the whole morning was changed because of it. We missed our window to take Grace to daycare, so we took Jackson to school first, but then Grace and I had some time to waste while we waited for the daycare provider to return from taking her kids to school. We came home. I did some blogging; Grace watched some TV. We left our house right at the time I’m usually getting to work.

We came across an accident on our way to daycare. It had just happened – I hadn’t heard the crash, but both cars were smashed up and airbags had deployed in both vehicles. Another motorist pulled over ahead of me and I followed suit, thinking my first responder training might be necessary.

One driver was out of his vehicle. He was dazed but not injured. In the other vehicle, though, an elderly couple were sitting. The husband, who had been driving, had open fractures in his hand but appeared otherwise fine. The wife was quite shaken but did not appear injured. I stayed with them, talking to them and reassuring the woman, until the police arrived. It was only a couple minutes, but it changed my day. I was meant to be there, meant to talk to that nice couple.

As the day went on and I had time to think about the events of the morning, I realized that if I was meant to be there for that couple, Gracie was meant to be here now, just as she is. Although her body does not work the same way others’ bodies do, she is not broken or imperfect. She is beautiful and sweet and impish and funny and cute. Yes, she has some serious medical issues, but she was meant to be this way. Just like I was meant to be late today.