Special Sticky Rice Day

08/04/2003

Alex (the girl I nanny for) had a friend over a few days ago. The girls were so adorable as they played and hung out. They wanted to have a tea party, so I showed them how to make real tea. They were so excited by this that they wanted to play a game where they were my servants and I was a princess of some kind. I wore a pink tiara with fake pearls on it. They brought me tea (just how I like it with a little sugar and milk). Then, they made me a lovely lunch of sticky rice and dry noodles. I heard the girls giggling in the kitchen and peeked my head in. There they were, sitting on the floor with the rice cooker between them. They used two giant wooden spoons to scoop into the pot and eat their rice (which was sprinkled with soy sauce). They were just giggling and having a marvelous time.
The kitchen was a disaster. But, I didn’t see the disaster until much later when the girls had moved on to another game in another room. At this moment, I was just watching them delight in each other’s company. And I felt joy.
I got the kitchen cleaned (for those of you who can’t let thoughts like that go). But I think about how wonderful those moments are as children…and how we need to remember to continue having those moments as adults. How sometimes getting out of your regular routine and just sitting on the floor with a pot of sticky rice, basking in the presence of your loved ones, is the best thing to do.