INNOCENCE

As a child, my closest friend was my cousin Jerome.  A cousin of his (on his father's side was a delightful young girl named Barbara).   We, three I was told were inseparable as playmates.  And found great joy being with each other.   

When I was five, Barbara came down with Rheumatic Fever and died.  It was, perhaps my first brush with death (although my brother, Wynant passed away the same year).  

Looking back, I sometimes question why such innocence is taken away.   God's plan is very hard to comprehend for an adult much less a child.  And while all my memories of Barbara have faded over time,  I look at the picture (below) of myself, Barbara and Jerome swimming in a local river and I think we thought we would be friends forever.   Perhaps, it was my innocence.

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