Two Miracles on the Midway

When the county fair came to our town, I stayed home and let my husband take our nine-year-old daughter there.

I was so over rickety rides and fatty foods. as much as I love funnel cake and corn dogs on a stick. I had spent the entire summer day with our only child, and it was time for my husband to enjoy some quality time with her.

Ah, yes. It was time for me to take a break with dessert for dinner in front of a Law and Order rerun.

Until the phone rang.

It was my husband saying that friends of ours were running the county fair talent show. The show would start soon, and they had hardly any contestants. They wanted to know if our daughter would like to sing a song like the one she had recently sung at our church.

I already knew what my daughter’s answer was, though she was not on the phone with me. She was a born performer who used to tell her dad and me to sit on the couch so she could put on shows for us when she was three years old.

My snack and Law and Order would have wait until another time. My daughter was literally waiting in the wings for another first in her life — performing in a county fair talent show.

Before I hung up the phone, it occurred to me: she was wearing an old tee shirt and shorts, probably dirty from rides and grass, and her hair was probably a mess. If she didn’t care, I didn’t care, but if she did care, I would be there with what she needed to look more professional.

I ran upstairs and grabbed her blue gingham sundress — a jumper that could go on right over her regular clothes. It was a hot summer evening, so she could put the dress on over her clothes, then take it off again when she was done singing. I also grabbed some hair bands and a “nice” pair of sandals, and I was off to the fair!

There were only two other contestants in the talent show. One was a teen boy with a loud electric guitar. Another was a teen girl who sang a song acapella. I knew my daughter had three advantages already — first, she was by far the youngest. Second, she was a very good singer. Third, she had a lot of theatrical experience. Oh, and she was adorable, especially in the dress she was happy to wear. So that’s four advantages.

Weeks before, at our church, my daughter had sung the song “Ordinary Miracle”, written by Glen Ballard and Dave Stewart and sung by Sarah McLachlan in 2006. I had heard it on the radio and thought it would be a good fit for her voice and for performing at a church service.

She loved singing and dancing, and I was glad to be more her personal assistant than a stage mother, happy to help pick music and costumes, but not pressuring her in any way.

She had been singing in high school and community college stage shows for two years by the time she sang “Ordinary Miracle” in church. She had even choreographed her own little ballet dance to do during a piano interlude.

She had been singing in high school and community college stage shows for two years by the time she sang “Ordinary Miracle” in church. She had even choreographed her own little ballet dance to do during a piano interlude.

Now, at the fair, she had to sing acapella. It was just her and a microphone. It is such a beautiful song with such an inspiring message, it didn’t matter that there was no music.

Here is the song as we heard it on the radio:

I haven’t seen this video in about fifteen years. When finding it for this story, I noticed there are scenes from a fair in it! I had no memory of that. Those scenes are from the live-action film version of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, a story with an ending that almost always makes me cry.

My daughter’s performance had me close to tears, but also beaming with happiness, as I could see she was truly happy. And, as if that wasn’t enough to be a memorable moment from the fair, SHE WON SECOND PRIZE!

Guitar guy won first prize, which, I guess, makes sense. He was very accomplished, and he may be a big star now, for all I know about what kids are listening to. The teen girl singer had forgotten her lyrics more than once, then said “I’m sorry” to the audience and started over. Someone should have told her to just keep going and the audience, and the judges, wouldn’t have noticed.

Second prize was a check for one hundred dollars, which, for my daughter, must have seemed about the same as a million bajillion dollars. She was allowed to keep half of it in cash, and we opened a children’s bank account with the other half.

I could say I’ve never been prouder of my daughter at a fair, but that would not be true. About five years later, this girl, now in her early teens, made me even prouder, and it had nothing to do with singing or dancing.

She had a younger brother now, who spent most of his time at this park with his dad at the pool and water slides. Not big fans of water fun, my daughter and I decided to try out some of the “thrill rides”.

I used to love thrill rides when I was her age. I loved roller coasters, as long as they didn’t go upside down. I loved the slow climbs and big drops. Rides that spun made me feel a bit dizzy, but nothing terrible. What fun to do these rides with my teen daughter now!

I was wrong.

Not three minutes into the ride, I didn’t feel so well. It was a combination of motion sickness and the feeling I was about to faint. My daughter, sitting next to me, knew right away something was really wrong.

“Mom, you OK?”

All I could do was put my head down and say, “Uh…no.”

“CAN YOU PLEASE STOP THE RIDE?” I heard my daughter shout to the young man running the ride.

Everything was getting hazy. It was all I could do to keep from blacking out. I heard more shouted conversation. I couldn’t hear the man, but I heard my daughter shout even louder:

“NO, SHE HAS TO GET OFF NOW! CAN YOU STOP THE RIDE NOW?”

The ride stopped, and soon my daughter and the man were both helping me off the ride. My daughter thanked the man and held onto me as she walked me to the nearest bench so I could lie down.

She got out her phone to call my husband, but he wasn’t answering. We realized his phone was probably in the locker by the water slides.

“I’m going to find someone to help you!” my daughter said as she ran off.

For the first time in her young life, I wasn’t worried about her, and I wasn’t even worried about me. I knew, for the first time in this moment, that she had grown into a competent, responsible person who would not get distracted or panic, but would do what she had to do to take care of me.

She did just that. She found a park employee to escort me to the park medical office, where I sat with ice on my head while my daughter went to look for her dad and brother.

Feeling better as I sat with the ice, I was becoming aware that something was ending: me having to worry about and take care of my daughter.

But something was beginning too. My daughter was becoming a young woman I could trust as a travelling companion and a friend.

It was both a sad and happy moment. It was another ordinary miracle.

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The above story was originally published on Medium.