Trying

Today I met a 6 year old at the Tree of Life Kid's Discovery Club. We were discussing bugs that you find in the backyard, and I asked him where he came from. "South Carolina." Then his grandpa whispered something in his ear, and this boy corrected himself, "I mean, Georgia. I used to live in Virginia." "Oh," I replied, "did you just move?" "Yeah, my mom died." In half a second I put the pieces together and, matching his own matter-of-fact tone, continued to talk about the bugs he could find in his new backyard in Georgia. Afterwards, grandma took a picture of me, the boy, and the bugs, and I watched the family walk away with their Kid's Discovery Club card.

I've thought about that family all day. That dear boy recently lost his mother, and his grandparents recently lost their daughter. A trip to Walt Disney World was perhaps an attempt at happiness. I hope they found it, at least for a moment.