Sometimes when your heart is breaking you need some kind of solace.

Fortunately, I knew for quite some time I would be in a good place today.

That fortress was needed after news broke Tuesday a child died from injuries sustained in a wreck early Friday morning.

This news sent me into a depression, tears welled and I just thought of how brutal it can be when someone allegedly behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer driving drunk breaks the sanctity of life and their actions end an already fragile life of a human only two-months-old.

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Fortunately, I knew I was going to be in a good place today after Roanoke Rapids Librarian Jeff Watson invited me to be the guest reader for the story time program there.

Coloring was one of the activities.

I was part of a 40-year-old tradition today and took it all in, the innocent faces, the enthusiasm and, most importantly, life.

I didn’t know Reginald Best, the child who succumbed to his injuries Sunday night in Greenville. I didn’t know his family.

I can only imagine what his family is going through right now as I can only imagine what my mother and father went through when they lost their son, a brother I never knew who was born long before I was even thought of.

I’ve seen the pain in my father’s face so I have some idea of the completely helpless feeling that time must have been. I can only imagine how painful it must be for the family of Reginald right now, that a son born only with the possibility of a long life ahead of him and the opportunities put before him will never be realized.

So today I took in the sights and sounds and read to these children as best I could and watched the hopefulness in their eyes and how they might view the world as a gift of life is placed before them.

Today helped me deal with the depression I found myself in Tuesday after learning a child was involved in this horrific crash and then learning later this child is from here.

Watson gives treats to the children.

Today helped me realize this innocent child was caught in the worst perfect storm scenario there could be, a chain reaction crash that he had no part in, safely restrained in the proper manner, only to become a victim.

That’s why today was so important to embrace, to realize that while Reginald is gone, he will always be remembered, albeit with longing and sadness at what could have been, by family and friends who cherished his birth and the two short months he had in this world.

Today was important to embrace and celebrate life and see children being children. Today helped me because I was in a good place.

Lance Martin is editor and publisher of rrspin.com