It was early. It was around 6:30 am. I had just turned the corner heading to the Crossfit workout. It was still kind of dark. I saw them as I got to the red light. The young mother was pushing what looked to be a stroller. There was something different about it though. I couldn’t make it out at first. It looked like a computer screen facing the stroller. Then I saw her. She was probably no more than 8 or 9. It was hard to tell in the early morning hours. The mother looked up. She was chattering away to her daughter and laughing.
The young girl was severely challenged both physically and it seemed every other way a person could be. She was watching the screen. It had pictures or slides of animals or landscapes on it. They were flashing by. I watched as I sat at the light. I nodded to the mother and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded back and kept pushing the stroller.
This must have been her morning ritual. Her time to make something of the day. Her time to connect with the simple expression of hope and love. Her time to bring some joy to what is most certainly a rough and unanticipated turn in a life. Life will do that sometimes. I have come to believe that it is not how we live through the expected and usual moments of the day but rather how we meet the unexpected and unusual twists that life can throw you that defines a life. We are defined by the response to the unanticipated. That is the challenge for us all. My workout was more intense then usual. I wanted to know I used every muscle and fiber in the effort.
The ageless experiment.
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