Eva!
My darling Girlie.
She once aspired to be a ballerina, until she and her friend, Casey, got kicked out of ballet class. That was almost twenty years ago. And it didn't stop her from dancing the Nutcracker Suite in our living room.
That was the olden days. Now she's living far, far away in Brooklyn, studying anthropology, Japanese, and tap dancing. Tap Dancing! Most of her life she has lived here in this house with me, Mr. Celia, and the Boyo. But she's also lived in such exotic locales as Tochigi, Japan; London, England; Hangzhou, China; Monterey, California; and Oakland, California. I have visited her in each of those places, and will catch up with her in Brooklyn this April. Next fall, she'll be off to Kyoto to finish her degree. I suppose I'll be going there for a visit, too.
Eva has been obsessed with interested in Japan for more than ten years. It kind of took me by surprise when she was able to get it together to be an exchange student in Japan for a year. She was only sixteen years old. And gone for a year. A year, people. I wasn't ready. And, really, neither was she. But she stuck it out. Even when the going got tough. That first year she was gone, I used to go into her bedroom, lie down on the bed and smell her scent on the pillow. I really missed her. But she came back speaking Japanese.
Now that she's grown into a beautiful and accomplished woman it's easier to see her go. But hard to fathom that she's really an adult, capable of anything. Harder still not to want to swoop in and fix things. She doesn't really need that. So we've learned to listen and encourage and watch in wonder as she lives.her.own.life.
But, honestly? In my heart of hearts?
She will always be my darling Girlie.
Today's post brought to you by Anne's ABC Along.
