Listen to this and feel good.

Today on WBHM, our local NPR affiliate, a story aired about my stepdaughter Norah and the letter she wrote to the Jefferson Country Health Department. She wrote the letter a couple of years ago, concerned about the flu shots required by her school; she didn’t expect a response but she got one, and it was beautiful. I eventually wrote about it on this blog, and I posted both letters. A few months after that, WBHM interviewed Norah and Dr. Mark Wilson about their exchange. You can hear the radio story here. (And you can read both letters in my original post, here.)

Weirdly enough, Norah’s mom (my wife, Glory) has also appeared on WHBM, exactly once, seven years ago, when Norah was just three — in, of all things, another story about vaccinating kids. If you don’t believe me, you can hear that story too, here.  Every family has its traditions, I guess.

Of course, we’re proud of Norah, and it’s also just nice to hear something nice on the news. “Don’t ever stop caring about others,” Dr. Wilson wrote in his letter. It’s about as good advice as any kid could hope to get. And there’s this: in the interview, Norah says she was surprised but excited to get a response to her letter — excited just to know “that what I had written mattered.” What a powerful, indispensable message for a young person to receive.

So, there’s your feel-good moment for the day. Now, y’all go get yourselves inoculated, if you haven’t already this year. That flu is some nasty stuff.