A taste of a child’s birthday joy

As I sat in the waiting room, I thought I might have a few minutes to myself. Then the door burst open, and a mother and her two little girls came hurrying into the room.

Fairly quickly, the older girl caught my eye and recognized me as an appreciative audience. She picked up her 3-year-old sister and carried her over to proudly demonstrate her sistering skills. I reacted to everything, just as she knew I would.

Soon, we were all deep in conversation—the wonderful conversation of strangers where the ice has been broken before it even had a chance to form.

“So, your sister is 3,” I said. “How old are you? You must be…8?”

“I’ll be 7 tomorrow!” she said, and I knew we were off to the races.

There is nothing like the excitement of a child’s birthday. I heard about her LOL-themed birthday party and the celebration she was planning for her friends at Chuck E. Cheese. We talked a little about first grade at her Catholic school and a lot about Pokemon and her favorite one—Pikachu, of course—and how many cards she has. She told me that she plays Pokemon Go with her aunt, and I told her I play it with my niece and nephew.

As I asked and listened, I thought of how I remember turning 7 myself. It seems so long ago and yet not that long ago in this beautiful stream of life that hurries along, carrying us wherever it will.

Seven is such a wonderful age, an age when you start to read even more marvelous books and discover new worlds. It’s a time when you start to realize more about yourself and who you might be. Somehow almost anything is possible at 7.

Or perhaps, everything seems possible to the 47-year-old watching an exuberant almost-7-year-old bounce around a windowless waiting room.

How special, I thought, to meet someone on the eve of their birthday, on the cusp of a new year, with so much that lies ahead.

Soon enough, we were saying our goodbyes and heading on our way. But I thought, as I so often do, that we didn’t just happen to cross paths. And even if we had, some of this little girl’s happiness had rubbed off on me, brightening my day. What a gift that kind of encounter can be.

“Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have received much from God; give, then, generously to others,” St. Maria Faustina Kowalska said. “They should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment.”

As I headed to the car, I thought of that little girl’s wonderful birthday-eve joy—and how willingly she shared it with those around her. How lucky that I happened to be in the right spot to receive it.

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