Applause from an unexpected source

When I'm not plotting or characterizing I'm still reading books at the local library during pre-school story hour. This past week our subject was the alphabet and how it spells our names. One of the books I chose to read had the charming old song that goes, "A," you're adorable, "B," you're so beautiful, "C," you're a cutie full of charm..." Of course I couldn't just read the words when the tune was haunting me from the back of my brain. Even though I wasn't 100% sure of the tune, I did my best to sing what I could remember, and ended joyfully on the final line of, "It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you to tell you what you mean to me."
Just as the final note drifted off to silence, a cute little girl with brushy horizontal pigtails sticking out behind her ears put her small hands together and clapped. Startled, I looked down into her adoring blue eyes staring up at me. Then I said, "Thank you," and gave a little bow.
I've been floating on that tiny bit of appreciation from a tiny little person for days.
So say something nice. Give a smile. Clap for someone. It doesn't hurt a bit, and it will help more than you imagine.
Shirley Bahlmann