Antionette Reese “A Beautiful Encounter” It was a nice day outside, not too cold and nowhere near too hot. There was no breeze blowing and in the sky, you could see the sun trying to break through the bulky clouds. I was throwing my son a birthday party for his 3rdbirthday. I got my son out of the car and we walked into the loud and crowded bowling alley and checked in for the party. The cashier was giving me a hard time with the reservation that I had made threeweeks in advance. Finally, she found the reservation and we got the lanes going. As soon as I finished decorating the tables, all of the kids started showing up with their parents. I divided the children into about four teams and they began to bowl. There were so many children crawling up my legs as if they were beanstalks. It seemed as if all the parents had disappeared all at once. I felt so alone but at the same time, just seeing the kids faces light up light Rudolph’s nose erased any bad emotions I was having. As I went to hand one of the kids a ball, and another small child grabbed a hold of my legs. I looked down and to my surprise it was Darius’s best friend Jonathan. I looked around to find his grandmother but she was nowhere to be found, but as I turned I was greeted by this 6’4”, light skinned, 190 lbs, clean cut, well dressed gentleman with his hand extended and a smile so bright, it could make a blind man see. We shook hands and locked eyes for what seemed to be forever, and at the pinch of my leg by the hand of my 3’2 ½” son, I snapped back into reality and also remembered that my son’s father was also at the party. We exchanged smiles and we have been friends ever since. What a beautiful encounter.