The Miracle of (My) Life

You are a miracle. You didn't arrive here by chance. It took centuries of decisions and roads traveled or not traveled to lead to your creation. We are made unique with our own stories. Here's mine:

In the year 1620 the Mayflower sailed from England to the New World. John Howland was a passenger hoping for a new life, a dream almost cut short when he fell overboard. He was pulled from the sea and I am a direct descendant of his.

My maternal grandfather was born in Italy and lived there until he was twelve, when, in 1920, he crossed the Atlantic with the same dreams as John Howland. He entered the New York Harbor and went through Ellis Island with thousands of other immigrants. He traveled from there to the Pittsburgh area where he met with family in Washington County.

My grandfather married a woman who spent most of her life in the hills of West Virginia. They had a baby girl in 1931 and over the next ten years suffered the loss of a stillborn boy and the death of another daughter. A final pregnancy resulted in the birth of my mother, born in 1941.

My dad was born in 1940 in Providence, Rhode Island. He had a happy childhood until his parents divorced and, in trying to take care of him, he was sent to boarding school in Massachusetts. Left alone with feelings he didn't know what to do with he pondered the meaning of life (for more on this click here) and wondered if there was more to it all.

Dad graduated from the University of Rhode Island and enlisted in the army. He was sent overseas and was stationed in Munich, Germany.

My mother graduated from business school and accepted a secretarial job with the CIA in Washington, DC. She had the opportunity to transfer to Europe and took the position which moved her to Munich.

These two were introduced by mutual friends and after dating and breaking up and dating again (on both sides of the ocean) they married in 1966 and settled in Rhode Island.

Having grown up by the shore my dad was an avid fisherman. He scheduled a fishing trip in October of 1968 but my mom talked him out of going and I entered the world nine months later, two days after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

If any of the above hadn't happened I wouldn't be here. If John Howland had been lost at sea there would have been no me. If my grandfather had stayed in Italy I wouldn't be here. If my parents hadn't moved to Germany I would not exist. If my dad had gone fishing that night I would not have been created. These are the few twists I know about, imagine how many others are unknown. Your story is the same. It took a lot to make you. Time and distance worked together. God had your life planned from the beginning. He knew you unformed. He knows your days. You were not a mistake or an accident.

Your future is unwritten. Your story hasn't been fully told. What mark will you leave on the world? What is it only you can do?

All of us can show kindness. We can give hope. We can carry peace.

Use your life for good. Let your light shine.