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He was holding my notebook.
The little girl stared up at me.
Suddenly, a page of stickers fell
out of my notebook. There was Win-
nie the Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet. i
Sometimes, these events are frivo-
had
forgotten all about them.
1 ous but nonetheless extraordinary.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to
Other times, seemingly inconse-
keep
this," I said, as the boy handed
quential actions change the course of
me the notebook. Then I turned to
my life. Twelve years ago I decided, •
the girl. "But how about if
spur-of-the-moment, to call the
you take these?" and I gave
Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
her the stickers.
and ask about openings; the
As I shopped, I crossed
ay before, someone
paths
again with the four.
announced her plans to quit.
There were no more inci-
And so my career in Jewish
dents — no screaming, no
journalism began.
fighting, no smacking. The
I have come to believe that
girl was sitting quietly, her
God often places such oppor-
•
tiny fingers holding tightly to the stick-
tunities in front of us; our job is to•be
ers.
The mother had the baby in her
on the lookout for them.
arms and was speaking calmly.
Today I was in a store, and I was-
I do not pretend that a page of
: n't enjoying it at all. I was in search
stickers will solve this family's prob-
of shoes, and it was taking forever.
lems, but for a moment something
Nearby, I heard a woman desperate-
magical happened. I had a prayer
ly yelling at her children. She
answered, and perhaps this woman
smacked one, who understandably
did, as well.
only wailed all the more. She was
I never met my father-in-law,
specially impatient with her 4-year-
Isadore
(Yitzhak) Applebaum, who
old daughter, who was talking and
died years before I married Phillip.
laughing quite loudly.
But once, he told his son a story I
"I said, 'Shut up!" the woman
love. Angels, he said, are not heav-
screamed.
enly
creatures who fly about in the
I was afraid I would have to leave
skies, but rather they are people
the store or find the manager (as
whom
God has chosen for a mis-
though he could do something ...)
sion. They are at a specific place, a
'God," I whispered, "I cannot bear
a specific time, to perform a certain
this another moment.'
task.
The woman's oldest boy, about 8,
Perhaps in the coming days you
came running near me and grabbed
will find yourself in such a moment. It
my shopping cart. Since all I had
may be dark, murky, at first, but then
was a pair of slippers and my note-
God whispers in your ear and every-
book, filled with my running "To Do"
thing becomes so clear and perfect,
list, I didn't mind. He was gone sev-
like a flower unfolding, and without
ral minutes, during which time I final-
fear
you step forward. ❑
ly found the shoes. Then I went off in
search of my cart.
When I found the boy, at first I
hesitated (the situation was so
Elizabeth Applebaum
strange). Then. I declared: "Here it
AppleTree Editor
is!

I

am not a believer in coincidence;
too many mysterious events have
happened in my life to allow for

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Detroit Jewish News

9/25
1998

103