Sunday, February 3, 2008

Just A Visitor

A young mother was playing with her baby boy in the epilepsy unit. The baby has the biggest eyes I have ever seen, looking at me with an adorable hint of surprise. My guide explained to the mother why we were there. "Hey, that's nice!" she said. "Last week a musician also came, and I asked if he could come and play for my baby, but he was too busy...He's some sort of celebrity or something."

I asked her if the baby has a favorite song. "Well, he likes Yankee Doodle..."

"Yankee Doodle it is." I put the violin on my shoulder.

"You can play that on a violin?!"

Yankee Doodle came into that dark little room, warmly welcomed by the mother and son. The young mother laughed, both at the fact that the familiar tune was generated by an instrument as foreign as a violin, and from the sight of her little boy, rocking slightly on her lap. The surprised expression never left his chubby face.

It didn't take a celebrity and a top-chart song to bring a little joy to the lonely room. It only took a couple of unknown visitors and a tune that the baby could rock to.

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