Stories for murky weather

(nope, no snow yet)

Might as well tell a sad little story of which I never knew the ending of.
Quite a few years ago I took a trip to USA for a few weeks together with a friend. We had combined attending a conference in Chicago with visiting my relatives at the time living in Missouri, me visiting a friend in Texas and taking a trip to New York visiting my friend's friends...Quite a blend, come to think of it. Anyway, when visiting in New York we stayed with this family, a couple maybe 10 years older than me, wonderful people. They had the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. Long black hair, deep brown eyes, really the cutest.. She was probably 7-8 years at the time. She suffered from some rare syndrome that occasionally simply made her disappear, silently. You could be sitting talking to her, joking, playing, and then suddenly her eyes became glazed, every muscle in her body relaxed and she slid down in a chair or on the floor..and was gone..for a minute or so. Then slowly she regained consciousness, eyes, limbs starting to move uncoordinatedly, and finally she was all back again. I never learned the name of the syndrome. Because of her condition she couldn't really attend school or pretty much anything. I don't know what happened to her later in life. I lost contact with that particular friend, so I haven't heard anything about the girl since.
So why am I telling this? Well, I think we all have moments when we feel that we have entered something new, something that leaves you..changed. And that particular stay - I think it gave birth to the father in me. Because all I wanted to do was to hold this little girl, and somehow maybe, maybe my warmth and love would make her all better again. Later in life I've recognized this mixed feeling of love, worrying and helplessness in other situations, but this was somewhat a premiere.