A mother looks down at her daughter
Who is excitedly
tying her shoes
The young girl marvels at the way she can finally
Loop the bunny ears together
Without too many mistakes
Her mother smiles lightly
To show she sees
Sees her but is really too distracted
The little girl jumps and dances around the kitchen
To celebrate
She has joy!
And her mother says a silent prayer for that joy
to last as long as it can
Despite the odds
The mother is nervously looking at the checklist
she downloaded from the internet
Trying to make sure she has gathered all the things
They told her to bring
It’s supposed to peaceful of course
Kids and pets allowed
But she still wants to be prepared
She is someone who is always prepared
The mother scoops up her keys
Don’t forget your mask
I won’t, Mommy
Don’t forget your sign either
I definitely won’t, she sings
The little girl picks up the piece of cardboard
And her mother smiles
She laughs at little at how some of the letters
In the sign
none of us are free until all of us are free
Are backwards
She is still working on her lower case letters
And her mother saw how hard she worked on it
had never seen her spend so much time
On something that wasn’t dolls or basketballs or Legos
Her mother wishes she was spending her time on something else
The mother grabs the keys and they head towards the door
They put their masks on in the same exact way
Loop around the left ear
Loop around the right ear
Adjust
Both mother and daughter have beautifully thick
tight, brownish black curls
that wrap their heads like halos
Some strands forever getting stuck in the straps of their masks
As they step off their porch
Hand in hand
They see other neighbors from their cul-de-sac
stepping out of their homes and headed in the same direction
There are signs and packed bags and contagious energy with the other families too
The little girl excitedly waves at friends she only sees from afar now
Her mother cannot believe how easy it is for her not to run over
and give them a hug
