Forever a Blessing

In my short twenty something years I already have buckets and buckets of memories and moments that I’ll never forget.

• Picking peppers in Pappy’s garden
• Watching the news on September 11, 2001 after I got home from school
• Being in Footloose my senior year of high school
• Tubing down the Yellow Breeches with my Reslife staff in the freezing cold water
• Planning for and participating in Bachlaurate service at Messiah.

...just to name a few.

There was a special part of the Messiah College graduation that will forever cause a smile, and that is the placement of a simple flower by my cap—a running joke amongst my friends and I which evidently landed my picture in various Harrisburg newspapers. This flower has come to represent me, my personality, and that little “special touch” that makes those around me sigh and smile {or roll their eyes}. “Oh, Kayla.” Obviously, the flower was a ‘definite’ amongst the China packing list.

On our first day in China we were cut loose to roam Beijing and to complete the Beijing Amazing Race (which is more like a photo-scavenger hunt.) Obviously the hot pink flower is a must for any hair-do, as it automatically puts one in a better mood after jetlag. My team hiked our way over to Tienanmen Square, trying to complete the race. We’re searching and searching for the things we need pictures of when we are approached by a Chinese man who speaks very good English. He told us about this structure before us that was very ‘old china’ and intrigued, we decided to take a tour.

We’re exploring and we’re up on the 4^th floor where you can buy prayers. The walls are covered with red decorated discs, each signifying a prayer that someone had paid for. I’m talking like, bee-hive bundles of prayers coating the wall. We were approached by a 25-26 year old woman who was explaining/pushing us to buy prayers. Our team leader, knowing a little bit of Chinese, was able to tell us what she was saying. "Family, money, health, test scores, prosperity", all things of what you can purchase a prayer for. We declined and instead started wandering as a group. My team quickly noticed that three Chinese woman (including the one who was selling to us) started following me rather closely, giggling and blushing. I smiled back and tried to engage in some simple (and pitiful) Chinese. One of the women motioned to her hair, so I mirrored her. My hand landed where the flower was placed in my hair. They all happily smiled that they effectively communicated, and I smiled too. I took it out to show them and they gathered around. Cultural Mistake #1 (actually, probably 254 but this was the first major one), I handed it to our saleslady with two hands. Her jaw dropped and the other two ladies began jumping up and down and scurried her a few feet away where they began trying to position the barrette in her hair. They laughed and smiled and were completely giddy.

I turned back around to my team and said “I don’t think Im getting my flower back”. They too all had their jaws dropped at the encounter and were slowly nodding their heads in agreement, watching the scene behind me. After a few moments of silence, Tiffany took a step closer to me, still watching the scene behind me,  and said “but Kayla, you cant see what I see right now, and the joy that you just brought that woman will probably last her the rest of the year." I slowly turned around and saw that our saleslady was looking at herself in a mirror, playing with the flower, twirling as a bride-to-be would when trying on wedding dresses. For a few more minutes we watched her float around the fourth floor, skipping to and fro, and proudly displaying her new gift for everyone. Temporary heartbreak; forever a blessing.

You will no longer see that pink flower in any of my pictures because it is no longer in my possession… it’s new home is somewhere in Beijing.