The Pandemic Puritan
THE OTHER DAY I went for a walk in the late-winter sunshine on a day mellow with melting snow and almost invisibly budding trees, in a neighborhood of old, Victorian houses beautifully and expensively maintained.
On a side street, I saw a little girl of about three years old.
She was walking with her mother and baby brother. The young mother looked me full in the face and smiled. I think she was so serene and happy to be out with her two children on a nice day that she forgot she was supposed to be worried and anxious when another person approached.
One could not help but be deeply uplifted by the sight of her.
Her baby was quiet in his carrier and her adorable daughter, with an absurd, wobbly puffball on her hat and fuzzy mittens, was still so new to walking that she was clearly proud of it. Her beaming smile and knowing side glance said, “And you thought I could only be carried!” Her little boots clomped on the sidewalk with each step.
They stopped at a child-sized basketball net in a driveway. A man of about 40 years old came out of the house to pick up the trash cans on the curb.
“Hey, Darby!” he shouted to the little girl. “How are you doing with your slam-dunks?” (more…)

