Baby AJ

A Christening on Long Island.
Baby AJ.

Trains to Oakdale run every two hours.
Only the 9:41am Train at Jamaica Station will get me there in time.

After four hours sleep,
Long Waits…
R to the F…
I get off at Briarwood — change for the E to Jamaica.
Almost there…

Postings everywhere read: “No Jamaica-bound E Train service at this station!”
Take the F Train on the other side all the way back to 71^st/Continental

I will have missed Baby AJ’s Christening.
I am devastated.

Upstairs in the token booth, I find a small East Indian man, eating a bowl of rice

at 9 o’clock in the morning.
This seems unusual.
When was the last time you saw a Token Booth Attendant in New York City?

I ask about getting the E to the LIRR Jamaica Station.
He smiles, and animatedly points down the stairs from which I came.
“That way?” I ask.
“Dat way,” he says in a heavy accent, smiling reassuringly.
“That way?” I ask again, incredulously, “Even though the sign says, ‘No?’”
“De sign says, ‘No;’ I say ‘YES!’” he tells me in a somewhat giddy sing song voice, smiling delightedly,
even beaming,
and still pointing the way,
just as apparitions do in stories.

I head downstairs, and just as I step onto the platform,
from out of nowhere
an E train arrives.
I make it to Baby AJ’s Christening on time.

Baby AJ and Uncle Arnie

Does that ever happen to you?
Angels appearing out of nowhere to help…
That one small much needed Miracle,
Arriving right on time…
Answered Prayers…
Grace.

Does that happen to you?
I bet it does.

Let’s bring our awareness to Living in Grace…
Miracles and Angels.
They are all around us.

Let us Give Thanks!
Just for today, See Them!
Amidst the hurried chaos of trying to get it all done,
Let us notice not just where it all seems to go against us!
Let’s bring awareness to the tiny moments of redirection
When prayers are answered
When it all works out
When a small Miracle happens
That makes all the Difference…

Grace

Feel free to play this, sit back, close your eyes, and just listen to the words…

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