Gifts, laughter and love

Our nieces and nephews are home, at Mama's. I get kisses, a bracelet and a dark blue stone for gifts. I sit down and they tell me about the game Taboo, then while I am distracted a niece gives me a piece of blue (play) slime to startle me. The youngest one comes over and sits on my lap as he shows me his scraped knees from riding the wave board.

***

We all lay in the living room, foam beds all laid out, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective playing on the television. I never laughed so hard these past few months as I did while I watched Jim Carrey do what he did best. The youngest one would turn to me and pull the corners of my eyes up, and say "You are Chinese," and I would launch into make-believe Chinese speak. It made him laugh so. And the laughter of a 4-year old is a precious thing.

***

"This is the best day ever," my eldest nephew, 12 years old, whispered to me while we were standing around eating ice cream. We were in the mall, and they just came out from the rides. I held Eric close to me, felt my love surging for him, knowing that every day, while his mother is in the United States working and barely had the time to contact him and his brothers, he deals with the loneliness of her absence.