She walked in holding my husband's hand and smiled at me with so disarming a confidence in her welcome into our family that I lost my heart to her. Kneeling on the floor to help her with her boots and jacket, I look into such solemn eyes as I have ever seen in a child. She gazed into mine and smiled, then reached for my hand and held on to it as we walked around the house, her curious eyes lighting on everything, in a not too intrusive way, and pointing out various things that for some reason made her smile. When the kids came home the previous day from visiting our friends, they were full of stories of this young family from Germany staying with our friends. They had such a good time playing with the little girl that they invited her to spend the next day at our house as her parents toured Manhattan.
And so the day began with us knowing no German, and she no English but absolutely no problem communicating to me exactly what she wanted. She would just come to me and smile, and somehow I knew whether she wanted a snack, needed to know where the bathroom was, was thirsty, or just wanted to sit in my lap. Such a mixture of dignity and willingness to melt into others' affection so rare in a child.
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee
1 comment:
i thought you are talking about a German cat. Children communicate better than adults always if they know the language or not.
Post a Comment