Teenagers

Preface: My mentors are C and A.

So last night my wife and i were at the airport picking up my mentor C's two teen age daughters,CL and M. It was something that my wife and i have looked forward to for a while. My wife has not seen CL and M for two years, and dearly misses interacting with them, and i simply adore spending time with the two of them. i have known CL since she was 4 years old, and have known M since she was 1 or 2. They were the first children that i have seen grow up before me, traversing from being carefree innocent children to become multi-faceted, individual and thoughtful teenagers they are today. Through that time, i must say that i've grown rather attached to both of them, and view them as blood relations, not just daughters to a very dear friend. Then again, since i view C as my surrogate father, is it a surprise that i view CL and M as younger sisters that i've never had?

Of the two of them, i have a stronger attachment to CL. We interacted meaninfully earlier on, as she is older than M, and interacted readily when i first met her.

At the time C and i were still working in the northeast, and we were, and are still, avid fishermen (well, it was because of C that i became an avid fisherman). The two of us would work full days in lab (7am to 7/8pm), head over to C's home, have a quick bite, load the fishing tackles onto the 14 foot "Ranger" that C had, and headed out into the harbor at around 10/11pm. We would fish all night for striped bass, C using lead line and flies while i was jigging away on a spinning reel. The sun rise over the city skyline would signal an end to the fishing excursion, and home we would go, to shower, breakfast, and head back to work. Because of this rather fanatical (in hind sight) fishing schedule we had, i had many opportunities to be one of the persons tucking CL into bed or reading her the bed time stories. At the age of 4, CL was already capable of reading rather intricate books by herself, so i took the habit of telling her stories from chinese mythology as bed time stories. i had figured that these stories were ones that she will most likely not read about or hear about as she grows up. They were stories i grew up with that had shaped some of my moral and ethical bearings, and in some naive way i was hoping that they will do the same for her. These bedtime interactions, and the morning "time to get out of bed you sleepy head" confrontations, allowed me and her to learn about each other quite well.

From that early point onwards, it has just been sheer joy to watch her grow up. To be able to see the changes she goes through as the world around her, the enviroment around her, and the new interactions around her grow and change has been one of my greates honor and pleasures in life. It is indeed something that is deeply personal and rewarding, even though C and i are now at the opposite ends of the country.

Needless to say, i am looking forward to spending a few days with CL and with M.