This morning, Mel and I went to play table tennis at our local City of Ottawa recreation facility. While Mel was taking a break, I asked a mother whether I could invite her daughter to play with me. The little girl, who was about 5, was looking bored, as her father and brother played table tennis nearby. The mom agreed, having previously tried to play table tennis with her young daughter.

I walked over to the little girl, who was sitting under an empty table, and got down on the floor with her.

— "Hi," I said. "My name is Jen. Would you like to play with me?"

— She shook her head.

— I continued. "My daughter is taking a break, and I have no one to play with."

— "You can play with my mom," she suggested, waving to her mom.

— "Would you come watch us?" I asked, hoping to convince her to come out from under the table. "You could go sit with my daughter in that sunny window over there," I added, pointing to where Mel was.

— She looked over to the spot where Mel was sitting in the sun.

— "If your mom and I play table tennis," I said, "will you cheer for me or for your mom?"

— "My mom," she said, with a big smile, and crawled out from under the table.

As I played table tennis with the mom, I learned that the family had recently moved here from PEI. They had been in Ottawa just a few days. After a few minutes, the little girl joined us, fetching the ping pong ball whenever it went off the table. She was all smiles.

Later, when Mel and I were once again playing table tennis together, the little girl came running up to show us her backpack, which had a picture from Disney's Frozen on it. And when we left, she said "Bye" with the same intensity she might use if saying farewell to a friend.

It was a lovely way to spend a morning.