A Little Girl I Did Not Know, For Whom I Mourned

Seven years old- I learned about her Easter Sunday Night- on the Channel 9 news. It was to have been a very special Easter- not that all Easters aren’t special- to most children. But this one was different- not in the normal childhood Easter things- like anticipation- dying eggs on Saturday- the next day’s hunt- arising extra early to the new Easter dress- with white patent leather shoes that buckle- that inevitable struggle with hair- and to an Easter basked filled with fake grass and foil-wrapped candies- all done up in green ribbons and yellow cellophane- cellophane that almost- but not quite hides what’s inside- and chocolate bunnies. No, this Easter was very special for another reason- it was also her Baptismal Sunday. After the service, presentation of a Baptismal Bible and certificate- an Easter brunch to follow- then it would be home to open the Easter basket, family pictures and the Easter egg hunt. A frontal collision it was reported- she was ejected through the rear window- how is that possible? The dyed eggs remain unhidden- the Easter basket unopened- the chocolate bunnies still in their cartons. They replaced her new clothes- the Easter ones that were ruined- her baptismal bible is by her side- new clothes and a bible- short days ago celebrations of life- but now…….. she died on Tuesday. @ 2007