以牙还牙

我一直把“奇迹”一词与那些在可怕的车祸中或者“不治之症”中幸存下来的人，或是《圣经》中像摩西分海一样史诗般的事件联系在一起。但随着年龄的增长，我学会了如何更密切地关注周围的世界，我发现上帝之手无处不在，奇迹也包括很多人认为是巧合而不重视的小事件。

我最近经历了这样一件事，我的大女儿玛莉，掉了她的第一颗牙。她非常兴奋，带着牙去学校给她的朋友们看，他们中的大多数人也像小爆米花机一样掉了牙。他们会成群结队地站在一起，咯咯地笑着，用拇指和食指摆弄他们掉下来的牙齿，或者骄傲地展示牙齿曾经所在的位置。这有点像是一场看谁更快长大，看谁能从牙仙那里得到最多金币的比赛。

在平时放学后玩耍的时间段里，我们正在玛莉读的小学前的大草坪上，她把手伸进口袋，拿出了我们给她装牙齿的小布袋。她把手指伸进袋子里，想把牙齿拿出来给周围聚集的朋友们看，但当她意识到牙齿不在里面时，她的笑容消失了。牙齿可能在她和朋友翻跟头的时候掉了。她哭了起来。我急着想让她平静下来，说：“别担心，亲爱的。我們会找到它的。”但当我看到草坪的大小，想到在那片绿色海洋中找到一颗小门牙的可能性时，我感到并不乐观。

其他的父母和孩子看到我们在草地上四处探寻，问我们丢了什么东西。他们一个接一个地加入搜寻的队伍，在每一片草叶之间寻找。他们都知道这是大海捞针的故事重演，但他们为玛莉感到难过，忍不住想试试。

大约半小时后，有人喊道：“我找到了！”我抬头一看，看到玛莉班上另一个女孩的父亲得意洋洋地举着那颗牙。我们检查一下，确定它确实就是那颗牙。玛莉喜出望外，我们两个都非常感谢他。他谦虚地说：“不客气。她的微笑就是对我的奖励。”

几周后，和往常一样的那群人在同一块草坪上像平常一样翻跟头和摆弄牙齿，这时找到玛莉牙齿的那个人的女儿走过来，自豪地宣布她刚刚也掉了第一颗牙齿，是和玛莉掉的同一位置的牙齿——左下第二颗门牙。她像玛莉那样把它拿给大家看，然后她又去玩别的了。

过了一会儿，我看见她哭了，就问她怎么了。她说她的牙齿也不见了！我发誓要帮助她和她父亲找到它，其他家庭也再次加入了搜寻的行列。这是我女儿牙齿不见的那一天的重演，角色阵容也一样。在我们寻找的时候，我对那位父亲开玩笑说，我们其中的一个人应该发明一种装牙齿的容器——一种“牙包”——最好是带锁的那种。毕竟，我们都赞同，珍贵的宝贝应该受到保护。

大约过了一个小时，在草地上搜寻的人中，我是找到他女儿牙齿的人——而几周前这位父亲在同一个地方找到了我女儿的牙齿！我从没想过我会有机会报答他，尤其没想到会以完全相同的方式报答他。

两个女孩掉了同一位置的牙齿，然后不慎把牙齿掉在一块面积约10000平方英尺的草坪上的同一位置，每次都有那么多人在寻找，结果却被对方的父亲找到了，发生这种事情的几率有多大呢？

也许巧合只是上帝的幽默感。也许牙仙真的很想要那些牙齿，知道在哪里可以找到它们，并引导另一位父亲和我找到它们掉下来的地方。或者上帝只是认为是时候赋予“以牙还牙”这个古老的表达一个新的更快乐的含义了。不管怎样，可能变为悲剧的完全相同的两件事情都给我们的小公主们带来了童话般的幸福结局。

I had always associated the word “miracle” with people surviving horrible crashes or “incurable” diseases， or epic events in the Bible like the parting of the Red Sea. But as Ive grown older and learned how to pay closer attention to the world around me， Ive discovered that Gods hand is everywhere， and miracles also include small events that most people write off as coincidences.

I experienced one such event recently when my older daughter， Marli， lost her first tooth. She was so excited about it that she took it to school to show to her friends， most of whom were also losing teeth like little popcorn machines. They would stand around in groups giggling and wiggling their loose teeth between their thumbs and forefingers， or proudly displaying the spaces where teeth used to be. It was sort of a competition to see who was growing up faster， and who could get the largest amount of cold， hard cash from the Tooth Fairy.

We were on the big lawn in front of Marlis elementary school during the usual after-school play date when she reached into her pocket and took out the small， cloth bag we gave her to carry her tooth in. She put her finger into the bag to take out the tooth so she could show it to some friends who had gathered around， but her smile disappeared when she realized it wasnt there. It had fallen out， probably when she was doing somersaults with a friend. She started to cry. Anxious to calm her down， I said， “Dont worry， sweetie. Well find it.” But as I looked at the size of the lawn and thought of the actual chances of finding a tiny incisor somewhere in that sea of green， I didnt feel very optimistic.

Other parents and kids saw us poking around in the grass and asked what we had lost. They joined the search one by one until a small army was searching between every blade of grass. They all knew it was a re-enactment of the needle-in-a-haystack story， but they felt so sad for Marli that they couldnt help but try.

After half an hour or so， someone yelled， “I found it！” I looked over and saw the father  of another girl in Marlis class holding up the tooth triumphantly. We examined it and determined that it was， in fact， the tooth. Marli was overjoyed， and we both thanked the man. He said humbly13， “Youre welcome. My reward is her smile.”

A few weeks later， the usual crowd was on the same lawn doing their usual somersaults and teeth wiggling when the daughter of the man who found Marlis tooth came over and proudly announced that she， too， had just lost her first tooth. It was the same tooth that Marli had lost—the lower incisor， second from the left. She showed it to everyone the way Marli did， and then she went and played some more.

A short while later， I saw her crying and asked what was wrong. She said she had lost her tooth， too！I vowed to help her and her father find it， and once again other families joined in the search. It was a replay of the day my daughter lost her tooth， with the same cast of characters. As we searched， I joked with her father that one of us should invent a tooth carrier of some kind—a“tooth tote”—preferably something with a little lock on it. After all， we agreed， precious gems should be protected.

After an hour or so， of all the people searching in all that grass， I was the one who found his daughters tooth—and in exactly the same place the father had found my daughters tooth weeks earlier！ I never thought I would have a chance to repay him， especially not in exactly the same way.

What were the chances of two girls losing the same teeth， and then accidentally dropping them in the same place on a lawn about 10，000 square feet in size， only to be found by each others father when so many others were searching each time？

Maybe coincidence is just Gods sense of humor. Maybe the Tooth Fairy really wanted those teeth， knew where to find them， and guided the other father and me to where they had fallen. Or maybe God just thought it was time a new and happier meaning was attached to the old expression “a tooth for a tooth.” Whatever the case， these identical would-be tragedies both had happy， fairy-tale endings for our little princesses.