I am looking after my friend's children for the first time. Typically, the little girl trips and scrapes her leg at school so I pick her up but she won't talk to me. So I ask her brother to check she's OK. He thinks for a minute, then says "She answers me better if I speak German" - as if he is asking permission to talk in German in front of me, which is actually what I want as I think she may be more comfortable talking to him in German. "That's fine," I say. Anyway, she refuses to speak to him too as by now all 4 other kids are staring at her. Ironically, my friend says that when these to play at home they speak English together. That is their play language.
On the way home Josh spots a flag, "Hey, what flag is that?"
Classic TCK response from another of his friends, "That's my grandma and grandpa's flag!"
It hurts being away from home, today. It hurts being unavailable for people I love deeply, it hurts missing the day to day grind of their lives; it hurts being away from family, especially my new niece. It's like an elephant sitting on my chest! Or perhaps a better description is that today I feel my cross more than I do other days.
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