Without a Song

The first leg of our trip home from Chiapas required an overnight layover in Oaxaca. The plane to Mexico City and on to San Antonio left early the next morning.

My dear friend and I checked into a charming hotel and hit the streets of Oaxaca in search of the perfect dinner spot. The aroma and ambience of a hotel restaurant across from the jardin lured us to an outside dining area for our first meal.

Before we ordered dessert, I went inside the hotel to answer the call of nature. When I got into the bathroom stall I began to sing softly. (I don't do this on purpose; it just happens.)

Within a few seconds, I heard a voice on the other side of the stall. "Mary Gordon, is that you?"

Well, I looked, and it was. And when I opened the door there stood my cousin Jennifer. In the same bathroom, the same hotel, the same town, the same country, and at the exact same time.

If I had been silent in the stall and flushed silently into the night, I would have missed this magic.

What would life be without a song?

Click here to read more excerpts from Finding Magic in the Mundane.