Residual China.
It’s fun and a little bit odd to interact with a daughter who has had a life entirely apart from you that you know little about. Residual clues pop up from time to time, though, which let you know some things she learned early on, and not from you…
For instance, the first time I dressed The Bee in a sweater and put a shirt on her, she was able to “help” me, quite noticeably, by moving her arms back and in to the sleeves. It was such a mind-blowing moment for me–even though, intellectually, I knew it shouldn’t have been any big whoopdeedo. She’s done this before, I thought. Enough to know how to do it, what to expect. I got a little too excited. But since you know so very, very little about your daughter’s life before Metcha Day, you cling to these small snippets of information that come through to you from The Before Time.
The most surprising residual behavior–dare I say, habit?–of The Bee is her Buddhist prayer moments. She puts her hands together into the prayer sign and rocks them up and down, exactly like the pilgrims do at the Buddhist Temples. She often closes her eyes.
This isn’t the best picture of her, but I did catch her in the act on film:
Clearly, someone taught her this form of prayer in the orphanage, and it has stayed with her. I didn’t teach it to her, and she wouldn’t have picked it up at the short visit we made to the Buddhist temple when we were in China. She uses it at the most unlikely moments–not at church, for example. I love it because it preserves a piece of her culture for her, and–also–because someone in her past felt it was important for her to know this.
DAILY CLOUD TRACK:
Here’s this afternoon’s effort in the sky. I love how one day the sky is just blue, and then the next day, it’s got bumpers, and the next and the next, too. So, now I’m tracking it. I hope y’all don’t get bored with the same scene of my front gate:
No rain here, yet. But we hear that to the north and to the south, they got some. Maybe The Bee is praying for rain?
Oh, I love the Buddhist praying! Rocking is very soothing. It makes me wonder what and who she is thinking of? How lovely.
Comment by: Cavatica - 07.07.2007 - 7.07 pm
That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! What a precious one, that little Bee!!!
I love following your adventures with her.
Yep, monsoon is just around the corner for you guys. I believe July 7th is the average start date, no?
We’ve actually been at 100 degrees up here. That is HOT for Spokane. It feels like a normal summer to us….
And yes, N. Idaho residents are some strange ones, it’s true.
There is a little town called there called, Athol. It is aptly named for it’s residents.
Nuff said.
Comment by: holly - 07.07.2007 - 8.36 pm
We got a little more than several traces finally.Very welcome, tho the house hasn’t really cooled off!
Comment by: Julie - 07.07.2007 - 9.44 pm
You know, I think The Bee is just so amazing. I just love the Buddhist prayer photo! What a beautiful and special thing that she was taught this by somone who obviously cared for her dearly.
Comment by: Melissa - 07.08.2007 - 7.54 am
How fascinating. And so great that you recognized it and are documenting it.
Comment by: atomic mama - 07.08.2007 - 9.21 am
Bite your tongue. Are you kidding? You never bore us.
I know what you mean about these residual behaviors. The first time we gave Lily one of her stuffed puppies in China she snatched it, hugged and cuddled it, and made this awwww…. sound. We were stunned because she sure as heck hadn’t learned that from us. The prayer thing is cool.
Comment by: Jacquie - 07.08.2007 - 10.44 am
Ditto what Atomic Mama said. I’m wondering, have you been practicing her prayer ritual with her, so that she retains it? It would be interesting to get her to teach it to you - is that possible? What is the sign for “show me”?
Comment by: walternatives - 07.08.2007 - 7.24 pm
It’s one of those things I know I’ll spend so much time thinking about once my daughter is here - her past life. How lovely that you get this tiny peek into Emme’s.
But just maybe no one taught her that prayer? Maybe with Emme we’re talking real past lives? Like maybe someday you’ll have a group of Buddhist monks show up on your doorstep to talk to you about your daughter the reincarnation of some very wise Lama?
Comment by: Maia - 07.09.2007 - 4.33 pm
What a great thing to keep from China! I hope she will continue to do that…even if she doesn’t always realize why she’s doing it- it really is a little piece of China that she has brought back with her- a memory from the beginning of her life…
Good luck with the clouds & the rain!!!
Comment by: Kelli - 07.09.2007 - 10.58 pm
Our son Kai, who was 33 months old on gotcha, did this. The first time he did it we were still in China. He even had a little sing-song thing that went with it. Our teen-age boys quickly dubbed the gesture “pray to Buddha”. He would even do it when he saw pictures of Buddha. Now that he is 4 and a half we haven’t seen him do it in a while. It is very sweet though, and it does make you wonder about their life before we met them.
Comment by: Scott Ocheltree - 07.11.2007 - 9.39 pm