Doorstep Surprise

By Juliann Tenney Doman

(Based on a true story)

The author lives in Utah, USA.

A young girl is kneeling by a window and is looking outside. A thought bubble is beside her showing what she would love to be doing while playing outside. She is wearing a face mask.

Taylor sat and looked out her bedroom window. She could see her friend Lori’s house and wondered what Lori was doing. Was Lori was looking out her window too? It had been a couple of months since she had been able to go over to Lori’s house.

Taylor hadn’t seen any of her friends for weeks, and she was missing them. She missed walking with them to school, doing school projects together, and playing with them at recess. She missed talking and laughing with her friends. She missed spending time with them.

She remembered back when she’d first heard of the coronavirus. “What’s a pandemic?” she had asked Mom. “Our teachers at school were talking about it and told us to bring our books home in case we don’t come back to school for a while.”

Mom had explained that a pandemic was a sickness that affected the whole world.

The whole world? thought Taylor. It was hard to imagine.

“To try to help people stay as healthy as possible, we have been asked to stay home and keep physical distance for a while,” said Mom.

Physical distance. Back then Taylor hadn’t really understood what that meant. But now, after several months of it, she knew all too well what it meant and what it felt like. Sometimes it just felt really lonely.

Taylor liked spending the extra time with her family, but not seeing other people in person was hard. As she stared out the window, she thought about how much she missed her friends.

“Hey, why the sad face?” Mom asked as she sat by Taylor on her bed.

“I was just thinking about my friends and wondering what they’re doing today.”

Mom put her arm around Taylor and gave her a squeeze. “Well, maybe you could find a way to let them know you’re thinking about them.”

Taylor thought about what Mom had said. That night, when she knelt to pray, she asked Heavenly Father for help. How could she let her friends know she was thinking about them?

The next morning, Taylor woke up excited. She had an idea. “Mom, I know what we can do! Could you help me make some cookies for my friends? We could put a plate of cookies on each of their doorsteps. Then I could come home and call them and tell them to go look outside!”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Mom said. “I’ll start getting the ingredients ready.”

“I’ll be right back,” said Taylor. “There’s something I need to do.” Taylor ran to her bedroom. She knelt down and thanked Heavenly Father for helping her and giving her such a good idea.

It wouldn’t be quite the same as walking to school with her friends or playing with them, but it would be a fun surprise. Taylor could hardly wait to call her friends and tell them a doorstep treat was waiting for them!