The Story of Us: Somewhere around 30 weeks

I took the Tube to work one morning during rush hour somewhere around 30 weeks. This was at a time in my pregnancy when I had been struggling quite a bit.

That particular morning was not unlike any other and when the train pulled into the station at Canary Wharf, the doors opened, and a familiar swarm of men in suits filled the platform, with everyone making their way towards the escalator. I assumed my place in the crowd, just one of many, and headed for the escalator too.

On the way up, I was surrounded by people chumming it up with their colleagues or checking their phones to read the messages that were now coming in after having been underground... Ping! Ping! Ping!

I looked down at my phone. No messages. I placed my phone back in my coat pocket and thought, I might quite possibly be the loneliest girl in all of East London.

In that same moment, a musician playing guitar at the top of the stairs caught my attention. He was just hitting the chorus of a familiar tune —

Country roads, take me home

To the place I belong

West Virginia, mountain mama

Take me home, country roads

Tears began streaming down my face and in that moment I realized that I wasn’t alone after all. I touched my belly and thought of my family, our family, back in Virginia, and knew we would make our way home to them.

I also couldn’t help but think that sometimes the Universe gives you exactly what you need.