simplicity

I didn't realize how much I missed my kids until I saw them again.

Last week I walked downstairs to give a lesson and Mel bounded out of a nowhere with a huge smile (and quite the tan), and I hear someone shriek my name and Frankie came tearing out of nowhere and barrelled me over in a big hug. Haha the last time that happened was when I took that semester in California and came back for a weekend and dropped in on ACF large group - Linda has been known to squeal, but I was sure surprised by how fast she could zip across a room.

I think it surprised me that people actually missed me while I was gone. I expected people to miss my classes and the things that I do around here (because let's face it, the ball got dropped for some things) - but it was a pleasant surprise to have actually been...missed. The first day I was back Scott's eyes lit up momentarily and then he became a little bit shy again. (That didn't last long). Little guy is growing so fast, we just celebrated his 13th birthday. Hard to lose the image in my head of the little 8 year old red belt with rec specs.

Derek and Dylan chewed my ear off the night Sr brought them to the dojang. Sadly our trip to Turkey involved virtually no sightseeing or recreational activities, so I had a history lesson and descriptions of Turkish tourism from a 10 year old. Mr. Know-it-all tells it all. Haha, I love that kid. And even though I felt downright awful that night because I'd made the mistake of attempting to work out and found that my legs were now foreign objects made of lead - dropping out of class and babysitting redeemed my night. No matter how poopy you want to stay, it's just impossible in the presence of children. We were walking home afterwards and Dylan slipped his hand into mine and swung it as we walked along, echoing everything I said after me in a singsong way. 6 is a good age...I was almost afraid he'd outgrow the cute little kid stage, but he hasn't yet.

Just like Sammy, who makes my day every time I go to un-nee's house. There's always that moment when I open the door and call out "helloooooo?" and I hear "SOYUN EEMOH!!!!!" and this little thing hurtles down the hall. And inevitably Sydney with toddle after her un-nee to see what the excitement is about.

I think all these things came together in my mind last night, when I went to the dojang to teach my class. Daniel came in when I was just starting stretches and waved with a big "hi noona!" At which point I put aside decorum and waved back in the middle of counting. Mr Lim popped his head in about halfway through my class to tell me he was leaving. I went on with the class, and was putting them through some drills when suddenly Daniel runs back over gives me a big grin and a wave and says "BYE NOONA!" I think it throws people off that their instructors is yelling at them one minute and then smiling and waving to a 4-year-old the next. But what can I say, I'm good at multitasking. Haha...

These kids don't care whether I've won or lost, nor do they really understand what all the stress was about. When Sammy comes to see my apt, she's not going to care how much my mortgage is or what the building's finances are - she's going to be thrilled it's next to the park and that I have a piano.

Sometimes the simplicity of children is so refreshing - that to them all that matters is that you're there at that moment.