The beauty of having a blog is that you can write about anything at anytime. So here’s a brief dispatch from the streets of Syracuse:

While walking home tonight I caught a glimpse of a little black girl who was smiling as she twirled around on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building. She had bright white teeth and was wearing a blue tank top and denim shorts.

Nearby, her father was bent down as he unloaded his car in front of the curb. As I walked farther down the block, I turned my head and took one last peek at the little girl. Her father had said something to her and she smiled and answered him.

Of course I didn’t hear the conversation, but I thought: that’s what life is really about. That’s what matters; that’s what endures. A girl spinning around in the sunshine on a small patch of Earth—alive, animated and free. A father and his daughter finding joy in an ordinary moment. Human interaction and simple pleasures.

And I was smiling too as I made my way closer to home.