I absolutely had to post this photo of my dear Little Mom and Dad in Beijing!!!  It's a long story, but the condensed version is they are the parents of my little sister, Didi, who was a visiting teacher in Indianapolis when I was area rep for AFS Intercultural Programs.  Back in 1992, AFS had a program for visiting teachers to come to the US and live with host families and teach at American high schools.  Didi's first host family was on vacation when she arrived in Indianapolis so she stayed with my family for 2 1/2 weeks.  We had a lot of firsts, some funny and some very heartfelt.  Bottom line is, she and I became very close friends.  The little sister part came to be about midway through the school year as Didi had gained a little weight and I suggested we go shopping for some new pants and even a couple new sweaters so she was more comfortable at school.  She asked a very serious question as we were going back from the shopping trip:  she told me her host family had been so nice to her, giving her gifts, helping with whatever she needed and now, here I was, buying her new clothes.  She said she didn't know how to ever repay all of us as is the custom in China:  if someone gives you a gift, you should give a gift in return.  So I just asked her:  what if I was your sister?  Would your sister expect a gift in return for helping you with something?  She said, no, of course not because if you are my sister, we are family and family members help each other all the time.  In that moment, I said, "okay, since I never had a sister and I am older than you, and you never had a big sister, we will be sisters."  Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling ear to ear.   Since that day in 1992, Didi and I have been family.

I visited Beijing and met all her family in 1994 and have been back three times since then.  Thanks to the internet (Wechat in China), we keep in touch easily and send photos back and forth.  Didi sent this photo because a couple days ago, her parents were celebrating their 69th wedding anniversary!  They are also in a new apartment and it looks very bright and cheery.  
Anyway, I just wanted to have this photo here in my journal, just for posterity.  And how sweet it is to recount that story and feel the love she and I have across all the miles.