A morning at Waimanalo Beach Park
Good Evening, God!
This morning I got together with a long-time friend from Kaneohe, meeting at Waimanalo Beach Park. It was a halfway point, providing a lovely opportunity to sit outside and chat and pray and praise You. Such a beautiful world!
My friend had just gone to the loo when a busload of visitors from China was coming up from the beach — getting ready to go. It came to me that I should “acknowledge” their presence — so I looked up and caught the eye of one of the older women and smiled.
That was all it took! She circled back and indicated she wanted a picture of me. Then it came to her that she could sit in my friend’s chair and have her photo taken with me! What a treat! When our daughters were young, visitors from Japan loved to take their photos. Now, at last, here was my turn! I gave a shaka sign —
Gesture raised fist with thumb and pinky lifted (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
a hand gesture of greeting, indicating all is cool . She put her arm around my shoulders — and we sat there smiling broadly while five or six young women took our photo.
It turned out that she was from Beijing and wanted to know where I was born and my age. She is just one year younger than I am. I managed to voice a shaky “nǐ haǒ,” a Chinese greeting, which caused mutual delight, and then they left.
It all happened so quickly I didn’t think to ask anyone to take a photo of us with my camera. There was no exchange of names or email addresses. But, I don’t need a photo to remember my mini “international” moment — and to appreciate the importance of a simple glance and smile. Thank You, God, for nudging me to look up and smile.
Story teller,
A Moment with God 
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