Sometimes Things Happen for a Reason . . .

and sometimes, things just happen.

When I was about seventeen I had a little trouble going to early morning seminary on Fridays. I mean, really, it's a FRIDAY. Justifications aside, please know that I truly was working on getting better. One Friday in particular I was all ready to go. I was determined. A herd of tap-dancing and jazz singing elephants would have been unable to convince me otherwise. And then the morning came. I woke up, I made it out of my bunkbed, I had gotten dressed, I fell asleep. Yes. Somehow despite getting dressed and ready for the day I fell back asleep. As did Clone 2. Which never happened. Clone 2 was good at going to seminary on Fridays.

When we got to school we got the news. One of my friends from seminary had been in a car accident. Pretty bad. Her sister, who was also in the car, was rushed to the hospital. It was just a big mess. I was really worried for them.

Part of me still wonders if the angel of sleep visited us that day so that we wouldn't have to partake in something we couldn't deal with . . . or if I just like reading a lot into things.

Which brings me back to today.

Clone 2 and I were headed to Institute. We were even thinking of not going. Be we decided that spiritual enlightment could actually be a good thing. But we also decided to get ice cream first. McDonald's ice cream, but ice cream none the less.

After a trip through the drive-thru, we decided to drive by some apartments on the way to the highway.

And passed an accident.

There were three or four cars involved and several police cars, but I couldn't see much else as I was looking at the road and the nice policeman waving me on. And we were on our way.

We got onto the highway and were a bit in front of the temple when I noticed that something was not quite right. A semi was straddling the median and was blocking two of the four lanes on one side of the road at least three of lanes on our side. I couldn't see everything. We were about fifty or so cars back. But I could see black smoke. I couldn't figure out which way to avoid the whole thing. Which is probably because there was no way to avoid the whole mess. I just got over as far right as I could and prayed for the best. We just sat there and watched the fire, knowing that we were really too far back to be of any help.

Five fire trucks, ten police cars, and four ambulances later, we were still watching the whole situation. People began getting out of their cars, milling about. No cars were moving. Someone had their doors open and the radio pumped up loud so that people had something to listen to. It seemed unreal. We were just there separate from the action, but still anxious to see what was going on. It was like a bad disaster movie.

It was interesting to see how long it took people to give in to the fact that we weren't going anywhere and what they were going to do with that knowledge. Some people wouldn't believe it and tried to get out. (Two actually succeeded. Those Jeep commercials ain't lying when they talk about off-roading ability!) A group of Asian tourists began walking down the highway, trying to get onto the outer road and to the airport. I got out of my car for a bit of a better look at the situation. The traffic jam went on for miles. We were all just stuck.

None of us really knew each other. We were all going to separate destination from separate departure points, and, except for the accident, we would have been near each other for one split second. Passing cars, changing lanes, exiting on the off-ramp. But suddenly, there's a horrible accident and we are all pushed together. Time lengthened. Boundaries separating.

I got to meet two very nice French girls from Tours who were on their way to Julius Caesar. Two very cute business men were coming home from work. A family was off somewhere else.

Two hours together and then a chance to turn around and end at the correct destination or choose a new one.

So, is there a reason that we were caught in a traffic jam. No. Probably not. Two minutes earlier and we could have been involved. Two minutes later and we would have been less stuck in the middle. But things happened as they did and we met the people that we did. No real rhyme or reason.

Sometimes things happen for a reason, and other times, they just don't.



**Well, that's my version of events. To see another one, read Clone 2's story.