An extended family I befriended in my neighborhood includes a 5-year-old girl just learning to ride her bicycle. I have become acquainted with her parents, grandparents and uncle, but have had no success striking up a conversation with her – until yesterday.

Yesterday came the horrific news that 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die of the coronavirus. Yesterday, came some other big news in the life of a shy little girl blissfully unaware of the escalating pandemic:

She now could ride her bike without training wheels!

A few scraped knees, but who cares?

Full speed ahead, a turning point, really grown up now, independence hers.

“Now, you be careful out here,” I admonished her mildly, smiling.

“Oh, I promise to stay out of the street,” she replied, putting the pedal to the metal as she circled around me.

I am not sure why she decided to speak to me for the first time. Perhaps she saw my sorrowful face weighed down with the somber news of the day, and wanted to cheer me up. Perhaps she blurted out her joyous news to just any one who happened to pass by.

But yesterday, somehow, I think our paths were meant to cross

My tomorrows, no end in sight, portend fear, panic and loss as the death toll mounts, and I wonder how close to home the virus will strike. But yesterday, this little girl and I shared a brief and delightful moment.

Yesterday, it was all good.

© Ron Cooper 2020