“They imagine the important choices will announce themselves.”
She shook her head.
“They rarely do.”
“Sometimes your life changes because a stranger is standing beside a road.”
“Sometimes it changes because you are five minutes late.”
“Sometimes it changes because you lose the job you thought you needed.”
Then she smiled.
“And sometimes everything you thought was bad luck was simply the road turning.”
The audience stood.
I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I was crying too hard.
Afterward, my daughters and I walked Eleanor to her car.
Before she got inside, Lucy asked her something.
“Mrs. Halston?”
“Yes?”
“Do you ever wonder what would’ve happened if Dad hadn’t stopped?”
Eleanor looked at me.
Then at Lucy.
“All the time.”
“What do you think would’ve happened?”
Eleanor smiled.
“Your father would still have eventually become who he was meant to become.”
I laughed.
“That’s generous.”
“No.”
