Branford — We've all been there, at banquets and galas, where rhythms rarely change. Table chatter running from idle to intense, depending upon the consumption of the euphoric nectar. The clinking of silverware. Half-hearted attempts at listening to the speaking program, especially during the bustle of dinner.

And this is where we were at one point Friday night at The Woodwinds, a roomful of tuxedos and gowns enjoying the Second Annual Madeline Guarraia Celebration of Life Gala. The hubbub of dinner punctuated the words of WFSB-TV (Ch. 3) anchors Eric Parker (an East Lyme High grad) and Mark Zinni, who were narrating the proceedings.

Conversation ... clinking ...

And then Juju began singing.

And suddenly, as if the universe hit the cosmic pause button, the rattle and hum became pin-drop quiet. Juju was singing. The sister celebrating the sister with "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran:

"Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul; and it's the only thing that I know. I swear it will get easier. Remember that with every piece of you, it's the only thing we take with us when we die."

This little girl with command of the room.

Dry eyes? Nary one.

What a night.

It hit every note: laughter, tears, dancing, inspiration, remembrance, celebration and perhaps the most enduring theme of all: paying it forward.

This was a night to remember Maddie, the toughest little kid of them all, who was nine-years-old when she died of cancer April 6, 2016. East Lyme and Waterford, forever rivals, became forever linked by her strength, faith and decision to choose happy.

Amie, Maddie's mom, later delivered the night's most powerful words, if they hadn't already been sung by her daughter.

"The challenge is to find the right words in her absence," Amie said.

This is where it's customary to say there are no words to explain the death of a happy little girl. Except the Guarraias, quite the remarkable family, found some. Everyone who entered the room Friday night was given a card, no bigger than a business card, with the following words:

"You have just received a random act of kindness. Don't pay it back. Pay it forward. Do something nice for someone and leave this card behind to ask them to do something nice for someone else. No act is too big or small. Pay for the person behind you at the drive-thru, compliment a stranger, volunteer at a shelter, offer your seat, pick up another table's check at a restaurant, put change in a meter, bring toys to a hospital, let someone go in front of you in line, clean up litter, leave an anonymous note in a mailbox, donate blood, buy a lottery ticket for a stranger, mow a lawn, shovel a sidewalk, leave a large tip, donate to a shelter ... the possibilities are endless."

And when we pay it forward, maybe we can think of Madeline Grace Guarraia.

Maybe the Guarraias were on to something when they chose Grace as her middle game.

Madeline's grace transcends us now, linked to everyday acts of kindness that can make our world — beginning in our communities — a better place. Small moments of grace will be our salvation.

They still walk in grief, the Guarraias do, because there is no greater grief than the death of a child. But they walk with a higher power, too, a spirit and spirituality that comes from an angel's inspiration. There may be no other person in Connecticut today associated with more pay-it-forward acts of kindness than Madeline Grace.

She would have loved this gala, too. Her friends reminded us that Maddie liked to dance on tables in the hospital. Many adults in the lives she touched danced Friday night to the music of Sugar, among the most awesomely awesome bands in our midst. Even those of us who can't dance ... danced. Suddenly, any lack of rhythm, two left feet, or worrying about looking vulnerable/idiotic were irrelevant.

The grace of Madeline at work.

What a night.

A night of celebration and remembrance that hit every note.

And now we go pay it forward.

And we think of Madeline Grace.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro