Although I am an aspiring mother, I am not very good with children. In fact, if you took a poll of all the children who have had the displeasure of meeting me, I’d be voted “least favorite auntie of the century.” Perhaps it is because they can sense my unease with them. Having been raised a “lonely only” and fifteen years younger than my next youngest cousin, my exposure to babies and children was next to nil. When I married Hubby, I gained nieces and nephews, but that still didn’t awaken the maternal instincts. Although I have improved somewhat in the past 15 years since Hubby and I have met, I still feel awkward when trying to talk to children under 10. If you want to see a train wreck in progress, just leave me with a toddler and ask me to play with him.

There are some kids, however, who can put me at ease. Ryan’s 9-year-old daugther Katie is one such child. She is so open, outgoing, and friendly. We chatted for a bit when I shared half a container of homemade pickled vegetables with the Ozawas. She talked about how she didn’t like pickled daikon (takuan), but she loved spinach, much to the chagrin of her schoolmates. She identified the vegetables inside the clear container. We had a discussion about whether the green thing was a bell pepper or if it was a cucumber. She asked me to introduce her to my friends, so I did. She impressed everyone with her charm and intelligence. After a short time, she caught sight of her father walking back to his seat with an armful of food from the concession stand and she joined her family for a pre-bon dance dinner. Not long after, she skipped back to us and held out a small brown paper bag to me. I opened it and saw a pair of miniature handmade straw slippers. Pulling it out, I admired it and noticed that it was actually a refrigerator magnet.

“This is neat!” I said, “Is this for your refrigerator?”

She nodded. I put it delicately back into the sack and held it out to her.

“It’s for you!”

Genuinely surprised, I asked, “For me?”

“Yes!” she beamed. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for her thoughtfulness. She smiled, “it’s for the vegetables.”

I walked her back to her parents and thanked them for the magnet. Jen told me that Katie wanted to get me something because she really enjoyed the pickled vegetables. I thought that was the cutest thing and it touched my heart.

Maybe I’m not such a bad auntie after all?

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