I Have To Try

I know that I will not do this justice but I have to try. It was one of those moments where a picture would have said a 1000 words but alas I did not have my camera. So my minimal writing/story telling skills will have to do. I took Oliver to the park and while we were there a Chinese gentleman and his grand-daughter showed up to play. The kids played for a while then this man sat down on the stairs that lead up to the slide. It looked as though he had a string of prayer beads, or something similar, with him that he held dearly in his hands. The beads were nothing special but beautiful in the sense that you could tell they were his and that they were used often. Oliver, whom up until this point was loud and bouncing around, quietly walked up to this man and introduced himself properly by shaking his hand. He then sat down next to him and literally snuggled in close. He pointed to the beads and looked up at him as if to say, "What are those?" The man took Oliver's hand and gently put them onto his beads and showed Oliver how to roll them between his fingers. They sat there together, not saying a word, for quite sometime enjoying the meditative qualities of the worn beads rolling in their fingers. I was ready to pounce thinking that Oliver was going to try and take the strand at any moment but I'm glad I just stood back and let the exchange continue. Oliver looked up at him again and nodded his head, then the man quietly began saying, what sounded like short prayers to me, in Chinese as they both held the beads. I don't know why it touched me so much but the two of them were communicating even though they were years apart in age and neither could speak the other one's language. This went on for a couple of minutes then they were just sitting quietly smiling at each other. I asked Oliver if he was ready to head home yet, he stood up gave this man a hug, said "bye-bye" and climbed into the wagon. I have a feeling that there are a few people, including myself, that could learn a lot from the exchange that took place between these two. It's one that I won't soon forget.