I got a letter in the mail not long ago that I’ll probably keep for a while, to remind myself how much a long road is well-worth traveling.

The return address on the envelope was the same as it has been for more than 20 years. The hospital name, street, and zip code feel like tattoos on my emotions every time they land in my mailbox. What these lines reflect to me are memories of trips I never expected to take -- and the fear and hope that I have carried along from then until now.

Just after his first birthday, the seemingly healthy son I’d given birth to as a single woman showed signs of a medical emergency that took me, my mother, and the very sick baby to a series of local hospitals. In the miraculous process of saving his life, doctors discovered an unrelated genetic disorder.

The road ahead could not be charted as clearly as I had wanted – a healthy baby growing up with a determined mother. Suddenly and importantly, I was wearing a charm bracelet of uncertainties.

Fast-forward more than two decades. The old phrase, “If I knew then what I know now” rings truest in the sense that what I did back then is what I continue to do when surprises and challenges try to overtake me. Of course, I’ve gotten wiser with age. Still, given a child with the need to live on in his rightful place in the world, I fought as I’d fight now.

My son wasn’t different, although it seemed so when he survived so much in his young life, and surely, now that he continues to thrive. As one of his doctors remarked those many years ago when we were all trying to find an answer, we were blessed with “serendipity”: the good fortune of discoveries coming together to make sense of what is happening.

The envelopes I’ve received from that place of healing have been hospital bill statements, health insurance inquiries, announcements of medical advancements in many fields, prescriptions and lab reports, confirmations of volunteer commitments and continuing education in my name.

One doctor took the time to send his own message – in an envelope from the same hospital address. He marveled at the small child he helped get well those many years ago (who is now a college senior). He praised the child’s mother. He said he was proud of both of us.

We already felt pretty good about our serendipity. Now, we feel even better.