I had a really good experience yesterday, in the company of my youngest daughter and a friend. We all went downtown to the Nathan Phillipps Square in front of City Hall to take a few turns around the outdoor skating rink there. The sky was clear and the sun was shining down on us as we glided across the ice. It offered very little warmth since Toronto is presently in the grip of a cold snap that took the temperature to a wind-chilled minus 24 degrees celsius. It didn't matter. We were all layered against the cold and sharing the warmth of laughter.
    If this all has that "nice, but so what?" sound to it, let me give you one more detail about the friend I mentioned. She is blind. I am not sure I would have done what she has done, without sight to guide her through it all. She hails from Trinidad and so had no previous acquaintance with skating until she came here to Canada. Among the other things she has done in this country, she sought out and took skating lessons. Yesterday, she laced up her own skate boots and stepped out with us, totally trusting in us to guide her safely about. She declared repeatedly, "This is wonderful!" as we circled the ice, and I have to agree with her. There aren't very many things better at putting a smile on your own face than the act of putting a smile on someone else's.