I took my friend Andrea to the airport yesterday. There was misty rain outside as we drove back towards Tokyo. There was misty rain inside the car as I fought back tears. It's not uncommon for me to cry driving people to Narita because it usually means I won't get to see those people for a long time.
How could I miss Andrea so much when I barely know her?? But she has a way of engraving herself into people's hearts with her kindness, her sense of humor. Rio keeps quoting from her journal. My kids adored her so much as well and seeing the way she affected them makes me feel I'm not alone in missing this wonderful person we had the privilege to know.
The day started off typical enough. The kids weren't wild about spending the day in the car driving and visiting a temple with mommy's friend. But they are generally good sports. I wasn't crazy about driving into Shibuya because Tokyo streets are really crazy. Sitting in the passenger seat is a lot scarier than in the back of a taxi and Andrea was making comments like "Oh, look there's a pedestrian right there" and "No, two cars can't possible pass each other on this little alley." Andrea and I did manage to dish dirt and chat when driving didn't get in our way.
We arrived at Narita Temple http://www.naritasan.or.jp/english/index.html a little past noon. We missed the regular parking lot and drove right into the temple grounds. Rio offered the great suggestion of "Why don't we just drive around until someone gets mad at us?" I opted to make a U-turn. Once inside, the main cathedral was lovely. They had gorgeous statues. Andrea started sketching and asked Rio what they were. He began reading the plaques and really got into it. The one Andrea drew was the four-head oni that put out evil spirits and thoughts. The mythology behind each statue was fascinating and Rio kept on wanting to read and explain to Andrea though she was starting to cough from the dust. Dust, asthma and plane rides -- not a good combination. I hurried us all out. The kids ran around the garden like puppy dogs.
Andrea bought them temple charms. Reina chose a bead bracelet and Rio lucky coins. But that kid kept dropping his coins and wouldn't put them in his pocket. Reina had good luck immediately. She found 100 yen on the ground. She waved her bracelet and the rain stop. Rio had a string of bad luck. I pointed out that dropping your charm everywhere may have something to do with it... Since that made perfect sense, he finally put the coins in his pant pocket.
At the bottom of the temple grounds, there were little shops and Andrea went giddy buying souvenir trinkets. The kids fooled around with some stuff. She asked whether she could buy Rio this sword keyholder and I said no. Not because I thought it was too violent but because she had already given them stuffed animals from America AND a charm from the temple (and some of you know about my feelings towards buying too much for kids... and one present within an hour is sufficient!) Anyways, back in the car, she presented them with a stuffed mouse that squeaks out I LOVE YOU and a keychain that says "Samurai spirit." (Funny story, there is only one little stroke difference between the character for "samurai" and the one for "wait." Andrea asked Rio what the character was and he said "Wait." Andrea was horrified. I started laughing. Samurai isn't a fourth grade kanji.) I did raise my eyebrows at the additional gifts. "I'm overdoing it?" she asked meekly. (She is so sweet!)
The airport is only a short drive away. We parked, found a good restaurant. Then Andrea takes out her sketch pad and starts asking the kids what they wanted her to draw. Dragons. She asks each of them what KIND of dragon they would like and begins to personalize each drawing. They were so beautiful. The kids were in awe. Reina then comes up and hands me these sparkling heart stickers and asks me to give them to Andrea. She was too shy to do it herself. Rio beams getting his. They go off to the toy store. Rio comes back crestfallen. Tears are in his eyes as he tells us "I lost it. I can't find my drawing." His voice is trembling. Reina and I offer to look for it and Andrea draws a new one for him. We come back and he's all happy and goofy again. Rio now wants to show Andrea around the toy shop but it's past her check-in time. We go off to the wrong wing. U-turn the other way. She checks in. We hug at the gate. The kids shake her hand, too shy for a hug.
They go home and before tv, Nintendo, anything else, they rush to get their pencil crayons and markers and begin coloring their dragons like Andrea told them they could. 30-mins later they are finished and have made up wonderful tales to tell about their dragons and insist I blog about it right away. In their prayers, they expressed gratitude for the wonderful day was and how they were so lucky to meet Andrea and to have gotten those drawings. Rio also mentioned how interesting the temple was.
Yesterday was a perfect example of what I've always believed. You can't buy children's hearts. Buying things for people is a nice gesture. It shows them that you are interested in them and you want to make them happy. Especially when you can't see someone often, it's very thoughtful. In fact, I do this all the time!! I keep one gift that people have given us as a memorabilia. I keep every handmade gift.
But whenever possible, children want interaction more than objects. Doing things with them takes energy and time, and by doing so, you have given them your heart.
