Remember about a month ago when the revelation hit me that I’m one cool mom? There I was at a café on Thayer Street in Providence and the girl with blue streaks in her hair who was waiting on me took time out from her busy day and the long line of customers to compliment me on my bag. After I mentioned it was a Mother’s Day gift, that’s when she told me I must be one cool mom. Well, that really got it going. From there, I went on to pick out fashionably young shoes at a sidewalk sale, sing at the top of my lungs while riding in the car, and dozens of other things I might not have tried if it hadn’t been for the kind words of a stranger.

I guess one cool thing leads to another.

Which explains why her dad got in touch with me. Recognizing that the girl from the coffee shop in my column had to be his daughter, he wrote me to fill in a few details of her young life. Come to find out, she’s pretty cool herself, a very talented musician, a college student and, as I’d already suspected, someone who goes out of her way to be kind to others.

Which led to the next cool thing.

I sat down and talked with Rosalind (Roz) Raskin. She’s definitely the same person who was working that particular morning in the café. But, as I was lucky enough to find out, there’s a lot more to know and like about the girl behind the counter. The girl with the blue hair

Beginning with the fact that she started playing piano when she was 5, learning classical compositions at first and then becoming interested in jazz. In high school, her musical ability earned her distinction as a Rhode Island All State jazz pianist in both her junior and senior years.

Along the way, Roz picked up the guitar, learning to play on her own. Admittedly, she’s still got more to learn, but as she puts it: “What I can play, I pull it off.”

Next came her writing, composing for several years but not really coming up with anything she was excited about until a song she wrote as a junior won a talent show at a program she was attending in New York. That encouraged her to keep going.

Keep going she has, with her piano and guitar and writing and singing. About two years ago, she formed Roz Raskin and the Rice Cakes with a couple of friends. She describes the group as “jazz-infused alternative rock that’s really drum-based.” They play a lot in Providence and also travel to gigs as far away as New Jersey. You can check them out at myspace.com/rozraskin or better yet, stop in at AS220 in Providence on Sunday night.

Besides all the effort and energy she puts into her ambitious music schedule, she’s majoring in Women’s Studies at Rhode Island College and considering a minor in film. She refers to it as plan B. Just in case all the touring and playing and recording and singing and writing and practicing doesn’t lead to the next step, the next big break.

But you know what? I think it might.

After all, in just a few weeks, I’ve traveled all the way from a compliment in a coffee shop to a delightful conversation with a 20-year-old student who has blue streaks in her hair, a dream on her mind and a song in her heart.

So I know it’s true.

One cool thing leads to another.

Rita Lussier can be reached at ReetsAL@aol.com or by mail c/o Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.