The Night My Actual Life Started

My daughter asked me today why I became a midwife and I realized I'd never told her the real answer. I was studying something else entirely in Medford when I attended my sister's home birth almost by chance. In that room, at the exact moment the baby arrived, I felt something arrive with the birth itself, taking up space in the room and settling directly into me, a sense of purpose so specific it felt handed to me rather than discovered. I switched programs within the month. Twelve years later I still think of that night as the one where I was given my actual life instead of choosing it.