But other times, I feel like things do happen for a reason.

Take the following chain of events:
- Yesterday, my Institute class was cancelled. I was kind of excited, because I had three or four things I needed to get done sooner rather than later, and I was looking at a very busy week.

- When I got home from work, the weather was so nice, I decided to go for a walk and enjoy what may have been one of the last great days of fall. This delayed my “getting things done” but it was a good cause.

- After making several “getting things done” phone calls while I was walking, I decided to walk over to a local church which has a meditation labyrinth. I’d seen a sign for it from the road while running and walking the area, and was intrigued by the concept. I found the labyrinth and walked it, further delaying my “getting things done” time frame. (Really cool experience, by the way. Well worth it, even if I cheated and only walked in and took a shortcut out.) By the time I got home, it was starting to get dark.

- Decided to start the laundry and go shopping, in that order. I didn’t really have a shopping list, but needed to pick up a few basics.

- Headed over to Meijer, and chose a really odd parking spot, further away from the grocery door than I usually park. I had a goal of when I wanted to be back home.

- Picked up the milk and cereal and a few other things, and headed to the deli counter. The line was three deep, but the counter clerk must have been new to the deli. She was Slow. Capital S Slow. It took several minutes for her to find the meat that a person in front of me requested and then five more to get it set on the slicer and sliced. And she was the only one available. I almost left three or four times, but since I’m working on my patience, I just let it go and got what I wanted.

- After getting the bread and hummus I needed, I headed for the checkouts. I had too many items (barely) for the U-Scan, and so I tried to find a checkout with a short line that was close to the door I was parked near.

- As I was loading the belt with my stuff, I noticed the woman in front of me, who I had guessed to be either Hispanic or Asian (don’t hate me, my Hispanic and Asian friends, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention, and you see a lot of both in AA). She was using a WIC card and the checker kept taking things off the order that didn’t qualify. She looked baffled. I heard one of her daughters humming to the baby in Spanish.

Here’s that moment that it was all building up to:

- I took a chance and asked the woman in Spanish if she understood what the checker was saying. She responded that she didn’t. In my (clearly) broken Spanish, I tried to interpret. (Man, my interpretation Spanish is rusty!) I was able to explain what was going on and how she could remedy the solution. (It turned out that the juice was too small and the bread was too big.) I also helped her read the remaining benefits on her receipt.

I know I wasn’t the only person in the store who could have helped. But somehow, I was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. If any step along my path before that had gone differently, I probably wouldn’t have been right there, right then.

Sure, coincidence happens. I’m chalking this one up in the other column though.