Childish Wonder

Oh, the enjoyment of being a kid. The wonder. The excitement. The uncertainty, yet the abundance of bravery.

While sitting in the Auckland airport at the Domestic Terminal awaiting my final flight to board, people watching is an absolute must. I particularly love watching children.

Typically, the children of traveling parents are braver than most children. They are used to seeing and being around strangers. They come up and start speaking to you with no understanding of language.

A little Korean girl (no more than 2) found me sitting on the ground by the window watching the planes take off and decided that I was her best friend. She kept coming up to me speaking in Korean (I believe) play pretending to share food between myself and her sister. And she just kept talking. I honestly don’t know what she was saying to me but at one point she started singing a song similar to twinkle-twinkle little star morphed into happy birthday, complete with blowing out imaginary candles in my hands. Absolutely in her own world, talking up a storm to me completely oblivious to the fact that I did not speak her language. Just walking back and forth between her family and me handing me imaginary toys and food. Her grandmother (it looked like) came over to see what was happening, also only fluent in Korean. She made no effort to stop the girl from playing. She only took videos on her phone of the interaction. I did not mind. If anything, I wish she would give me a give me a copy. The little girl and her sister have now found another little girl (from NZ) about the same age. They seem to not have any issues playing with each other. Which shows that discrimination is not natural. Kids know no boundaries.

Next to this massive window where I can see the planes take off, this little boy no more than 3 years old) wearing a blue ball cap, with his own tiny backpack, and carrying around his own suitcase, came up from the escalator just as a plane took off. He saw it and his face just dropped in awe. I just hear him whisper ‘Wow!’. He was completely and utterly amazed and it was beautiful to watch.

There are kids completely decked out with their hats, boots, backpacks, toys, snacks, coloring books, blankets, and pillows, following their parents’ lead. I hope one day I am able to give my kids that same experience!

Oh, the enjoyment of being a kid. Today has been a long travel day and frankly a little friendly kid playing with you is just what I needed.