Have you heard this story before? It begins like this:
Once upon a time (isn’t that how most good stories begin?), a rather odd, older woman (who had never really fit in most of her life anywhere, regardless of what group she might have decided to join), sat behind a lovely couple whom she had never met before who also had two little girls with them. On this day, it just so happened that the older woman and her husband decided to sit on the other side of the church and this family were sitting in the pew directly in front of them and just to the right.
The thing that stood out initially was that the two little girls, who had to both be no older than five or six, were able to remain quiet and well behaved without a coloring book or any other items to keep them busy. This both surprised and delighted the older woman, since most children today must be kept entertained in order to not become noisy and disruptive. In fact, most parents now-a-days simply have no other option (because their children were never properly taught how to properly behave) but to send their children off to “children’s church” so that they do not disturb everyone around them during the worship service.
Anyway – the older woman who also happened to be somewhat artistic and having put on a few pounds over the years had taken to wearing what could best be described as “Hippy Shawls” in order to help cover the chubbiness that had seemed to sneak up on her.
On this particular day, she had on a silver, sparkly, hippy shawl and felt the need to artistically balance out the shawl's "sparkliness". So, she decided to wear sparkly, silver sandals and silver, sparkly earrings—not to mention the fact that she had long silver hair (much too long to be considered respectable for a 62 year old woman to wear) that she had pulled up into a long “Disney Princess” type ponytail. On top of that, it had been so hot lately that she decided to also carry a black and silver Japanese fan that she wore on her wrist.
Needless to say, most people probably thought she looked a bit ridiculous, if not even totally inappropriate. But, as time would tell, these two little girls seemed to feel otherwise. In fact, this older woman’s husband pointed out that one of the little girls was watching the older woman as she sang worship songs while also fanning herself with the lovely Japanese fan. In fact, this little girl, was not only watching; but was also pretending that her hand was a fan and she was mimicking the movements of the older woman. The older woman could not help but smile upon witnessing this childlike sweetness and she was temporarily taken back to when she was a little girl.
At that moment, she remembered back to the first time she had seen a Japanese fan as a little girl and the lasting impression it had made upon her.
Rumor has it that before the service was over, this older woman had decided that she would give that little girl her fan.
So, as soon as the service was over, she approached the little girls mother and introduced herself. She then complimented the mother on how well her children behaved and then (with the mother’s approval) she addressed the little girls.
She told the little one that she noticed her during the church service and could tell that she liked the fan. She asked the little one if she had ever held a fan and if she would like to hold the one she had. The little one exclaimed, “Oh yes. Please let me hold it”.
This started a very long discussion with the two little girls and their mother. The little girls were sisters, three and five years old, and it was the three year old that the older woman let hold the fan. She then turned to the three year old and said, “Would you like this fan for your very own?” Her reply was, “Yes I would so love to have this fan”. The older woman responded with her typical "Mary Poppins" sternness, “If I give this fan to you, do you promise to share it with your sister? To be kind and sweet and allow her to use it at least half of the time?” The little girls eyes got really big and she looked at the fan; looked at her sister; looked back at the fan and said, "I promise".
The older woman (not wanting to leave out the five-year-old; but, also not knowing if she would even be interested in a fan since she was not the one that was so enamored by it) turned to her sister who was five years old and said, “I only have one fan. If I had two fans, would you also like a fan of your very own?” Her reply was, “Yes, I would very much like a fan”. Quickly after that, the older sister, who was obviously realizing what was possibly at stack, turned to the older woman and said, “I did notice that your outfit is very color coordinated. Everything matches. You have silver sandals, silver earring, a silver top and silver hair”.
At this, the older woman almost laughed out loud with amazement at this little one’s insight, confidence of expression; and great vocabulary for someone her age. She was able to maintain her composure and simply smiled at the five year old while thinking to herself, “These are two delightful little girls!”.
She quickly decided that each one needed a fan for their very own; but, had only the one fan with her. To solve the dilemma, she decided to ask the older girl, “If I could give you your very own fan, what color would you want?”
At this, the younger girl perked up and started listening intently to what the older woman was saying to her sister and seemed somewhat concerned about the direction the conversation was going. The older girl answered by saying, “I like all the colors of the rainbow, so I would like a multi-colored fan”. Having heard that and knowing what colors of fans that she had at home, the older woman said, “I don’t have any rainbow-colored fans. How about a pink or a purple one?”
Hearing this discussion, the little three-year-old, who was still fanning herself and gazing at her new fan, stopped and said, “I would like a purple fan” and turning to her older sister, said, “Do you want this fan?” The five-year-old, said, “Oh Yes!” and grabbed the black and silver fan and started fanning herself.
At that, the older woman turned to the three-year-old and said, “Are you telling me that you are willing to give your sister this fan and then wait an entire week for a purple fan?” She replied, “Oh Yes!” So, the older woman then turned to the older sister and said, “Are you telling me that you are willing to take this black and silver fan now instead of a pink or purple one in a week?" and her reply was “Oh Yes!”
The older woman then took both little girls by their hands, and while looking into their eyes, as their mother stood looking on, said to them, “It will be an entire week before we see each one another and I bring the other fan. So, I need for both of you to promise that you will be kind to each other and share this black and silver fan until next week. If I hear from your mother (and be sure of this, she will tell me) that either one of you had argued about the fan or were not willing to share the fan, I will not only take away the black and silver fan; but I will also not give the little one the purple fan. Do you two hear me and promise to adhere to this agreement?”
They both looked up to their mom and back to the older woman and said, “Yes, we agree! Yes, we promise!” Their mother and the older woman met eyes and grinned at one another as they all said their farewells knowing it would be at least a week before they would see each other again. The older woman could tell that the mother of the two girls had truly enjoyed the entire event and especially enjoyed the "Mary Poppins" sternness part.
As the older woman watched this sweet family walk away, she was suddenly glad that she sometimes dresses in a way that others might think looks a bit ridiculous, if not even totally inappropriate; and she was especially thankful that she had decided to bring a pretty Japanese fan to church today!
Comments