Sometimes I like to play a game with the Universe. I throw open the shutters of my heart and ask for miracles to come find me. “Show me wonder!” I say. “Show me grace! Give me all the amazement this woman can take!”

At first it’s subtle. I notice trees more than usual. The light from the windows makes the flowers on my desk glow. I make it to the grocery store without any gas.

Then the Universe takes it up a notch. A woman at the grocery store shouts at me across the aisle. She has Down’s Syndrome and is wearing a pair of orange and green striped socks and a party dress. '“Hey!” she says. “You’re pretty!” I take this as a high compliment because I've just gotten over CoVid and am wearing a mask. “Thank you!” I say. “I love your dress and your socks!” She beams and tears come to my eyes. Why? I don’t know. I feel seen by a beautiful stranger.

I buy some soup and salad at the store cafe. An elderly gentleman is working there. He is tall, with thick, wild curls and a brown mustache. When I get up to look for a fork he says loudly and with good humor, “TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AND I WILL HELP YOU!”

What a sentence! It’s as though a genie has spoken! A million bucks! I want to say. A way to save all those lobsters in the tank downstairs! To hear my mother’s voice one more time. For everyone’s children, including the polar bears’ to be safe and happy!

“A fork!” I say.

With finesse and pizazz he hands me a fork, a magician giving me a wand. Our eyes are smiling. His are bright, pale and very alive, the skin around them wrinkled like an elephant’s. I don’t know what mine look like, who cares? The woman downstairs says I’m pretty.

By now I feel like I’m walking on air. I call my father to see if he needs groceries. He’s on the other line, which is rare, and instead of getting the answering machine I am routed to an old, unused voicemail box. I hear my mother’s voice “You have reached the Barry’s….” My throat closes. Some miracles leave you wordless.

Thank you, I whisper on my way out of the store.

In the parking lot, a bearded man in a hoodie rides a shopping cart to his truck. He glides across the asphalt, his body curved, his arm reaching elegantly to the sky as if he were in a ballet.