Friends and Enemies

Monday, June 6th: ~Afternoon

This Sunday a close friend of Sumie's came down from Connecticut to meet us at Sumie's parents' home in Westchester.  Lucky for Mimi, and for us, Yuko brought along her daughter, Ayla, who is definitely Mimi's senior at nearly 5 years old.

We ordered sushi with a few extra servings of "ikura," which are fish eggs (salmon eggs to be specific, I believe) and Alya's favorite.  Most "American" kids would have been freaked out by the mounds of rice covered in red, slightly gooey, translucent balls, but Ayla dived right in.  She even knew what they were!  There's a lesson there for me.  Although I don't care for them much, I need to make sure that Mimi doesn't recognize this.  I need to give her the opportunity to try as many types of food as I can, even if I don't care for what's on the plate.  This is going to be particularly difficult for me when it comes to raw tomatoes or natto, but I'll find a way to make it happen.  Mimi didn't have much sushi that day, but she did enjoy the yummy egg taken out of Papa's futomaki. 

A little over a week ago we had a picnic with some friends in Central Park.  They brought along their son, who is a dear, and only a week older than Mimi.  He was chill, Mimi was bossy.  Well, that's a bit of an understatement.  It turns out that she can be quite the little dictator, demanding whatever is in some other child's hand, mouth, eyesight, etc.  We thought this might simply be a result of being in daycare - either being the oldest in the infant room right now, or the weakest in the infant room several months ago. With Ayla, we discovered that Mimi has the ability to make demands on older kids as well.  Ayla was excellent with her, though, (a perfect role model for our Mimi) and even fed her for us.

You'll notice Harrychan, Obachan and Ojichan's sheltie, in the picture above with Mimi and Ayla.  He is now fourteen years old and is really beginning to show his age.  He's still brave, though, and looks out for all of the members of the Iwasaki family, even Mimi.  We're happy to hear that Mimi's visit helped to energize Harry for a little while and lift his spirits.

All told, it was looking like a perfect weekend.  A perfect weekend, that is, until our poor car was accosted by a middle-aged peon from out of town in her Lexus!  We were driving up 78th street, right next to our apartment building, when all of the sudden we heard a bang and a scrape.  I had no idea what it was, but Sumie knew instantly.  This careless person, who had double-parked, decided to fling open her door into our moving car.

I slammed on the brakes, reversed, and got out to survey the damage.  I was trying to tell myself to be calm.  It was working until I saw the door.

Now, I definitely could have been more polite.  My first words were, quite loudly, "Insurance.  Now!"  It would have been more effective for me to simply begin conversation with the car's owner (who turned out to be a good guy) and his wife (who wasn't) with a measured if slightly annoyed air.  But I simply said, "Insurance. Now!"  I'm a firm believer that if you damage my car as a result of your own ignorance, disregard, and stupidity, I will yell at you.  No exceptions - wife, child, future Pope, it doesn't matter.

My stomach was in knots as I tried to find parking after the incident.  I came home an hour later (yes, nightmare parking) and entered the house in a very sour mood.  Mimi was on the living room floor with Sumie and she gave me the biggest smile.  I refused to return it.  I was going to be angry.  I went into the bedroom and flung my bag and keys on the bed.  I would not be cheered up.

I came back out to the living room and, once again, Mimi attempted to make me smile.  I wouldn't let myself be swayed.  I flashed her an angry look and something in her face broke.  Her smile faded and her eyes stopped sparkling.  At that moment, something in me broke as well.  Here was this excited little person, only wanting me to be happy, and I returned the favor by acting like a complete ass.

Later that night, I still felt sick about the car, but I felt even worse for having seemed angry toward Mimi for no reason.  She taught me something that night.  Yes, I'll still probably yell at idiots who damage my car, and yes, I'll probably still come home from time to time in a sour mood, but from now on I will do my best to make sure that remains my problem, not my daughter's.  She has enough to worry about as it is!