Reach

The steaming hot bowl of phở was good. Too good.
Sr. Gwen Huyền's mom was taking advantage of our Tết visit to serve authentic Vietnamese cuisine. The only problem is she is also a traditional Vietnamese mom. The bowl was overly generous and 20 minutes later, I was still working on it with no end in sight.

"Thái! Thái!"
"Whish!!!!!!!!!!"
The three little cousins chased each other rambunctiously through the house.

"He bumped me!" Ellie wailed loudly.
The six-year old held her lips painfully and pointed at the "criminal" accusingly.
Three-year-old Thái looked bewildered.

"He ran into me!" Ellie continued.
Stella, her sister, nodded in agreement.
The kids waited for judgment.

"Thái, say sorry to Ellie," Hằng, his mom, commanded. We didn't know if Thái would do it or not since the kids have been bumping each other boisterously for several minutes without incident.

Thái stepped closer to Ellie.
"I can't reach her," he stated matter-of-factly.
Reach?... we were all bewildered at his remark.

"O Ellie, Thái muốn hôn con," Hằng said. The Vietnamese was going over Ellie's head.
"Ellie, honey, Thái wants to kiss your owie," I explained.

With a startled look, Ellie zipped away from Thái.
"Guess, that solved the problem quickly," I commented.
All the adults burst into laughter.

Reach.
Sometimes, no one can reach our owie to kiss our hurt away.
Sometimes, it is us that won't bend down to let our owies be reached.

A kiss is out there.
Will you let it be in reach?

ps. Ellie is the taller of the two girls.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Ellie and Stella's mom.

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