I rarely rely on Wikipedia for a citation, but in this circumstance, I think it is totally suited to purpose:
Shaggy dog story: In its original sense, a shaggy-dog story or yarn is an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant details and terminated by an anticlimax.
I am absolutely telling a shaggy dog tale - because I think that our wish for stories to proceed in a straight line and end with a satisfying climax has little to do with living, and that our notions about what parts of a story are relevant or not are skewed. Sometimes the most important part of a story lies in the details we dismiss as unimportant. Sometimes a story has greater power if we consider it an unfolding process that we are immersed in, that will emerge, recede, and reveal itself to us over time without a button at the end.
So, if you want to read a story with a clear driving narrative and a tidy ending you might want to pull out now.
This is just a story of living in a whirlwind of randomness, catastrophe and the miraculous and paying attention. Of noticing patterns and variations in patterns, and felt experiences of fluid meaning, but with no certainty or desire to pin down what it all means.
It is a long circular tale of coincidence that begins far away in time and space and lands right back at my own feet….