“What will New York be like, Mommy?” our soon-to-be eight year old asked on the flight from Austin last week.
“Mmmm. . . it’ll feel big. And, busy. There’s a special rhythm to the city,” I held her hand tight in the turbulence.
“Will I meet a friend?”
Of all the questions she could have asked about our imminent arrival, I never anticipated this one.
“I’m not sure, sweetie.”
“You said we were going to a park, so I hope there are friends for me to play with,” she smiled confidently.
My heart sank. How in the world do you make a friend in the country’s largest city?
8.5 million people. Blows my mind when I think of so many human beings living in such a relatively small space.
For the next three days, I spent an unexpected and delightful amount of time sitting on benches and rock ledges in several of the city’s neighborhood parks. We would have taken Sarah anywhere, you know. She assured us she wanted to spend her birthday weekend twirling and spinning on different playgrounds.
At one park in lower Manhattan, she took a temporary break from spinning to tell me, “Mommy I made a friend!”
“I see,” I smiled.
“But, she doesn’t speak English so it’s a little tricky.”
“Did you know there are over 800 languages spoken in New York City?”
“Nope. Wonder what my friend speaks?”
“Portuguese, I think.” I overheard the little girl talking with her mother.
“I don’t know Portuguese. Good thing we have the spinning-thingy,” her voice trailed behind her as she resumed playing with her friend.
I love her childlike ease playing with a complete stranger. The gift of the scene unfolding before me wasn’t lost in translation.
In Greek, the word hospitality means love of stranger. There is no fear in love. Too young for the world to have told them otherwise, these girls were not worried about their differences or what the other might think. They simple wanted to play. An option for a playmate presented itself and they both willingly took it. Eight and a half million people and for a brief moment on a sunny Saturday morning two little girls giggled and twirled. I smiled towards heaven and whispered, “thank you.”
God wasn’t finished.
At Central Park, a pink brigade stormed the slide. Sarah didn’t waste time coming to share her excitement with me, but she did give me a beaming grin and thumbs-up sign from the top of the slide.
For three days, I watched and wondered. I felt like I was on the set of Sesame Street. The lyrics played over and over in my mind, Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? The whole weekend was filled with small, simple encounters. Conversations with mothers in the park. A divine encounter with a sanitation worker. A meaningful exchange with a NYPD officer.
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
They’re the people that you meet
When you’re walking down the street,
They’re the people that you meet each day.
As Sarah played I thought about you. I wonder about your neighborhood. Where do you live? Do you live in a big city? A suburb? The country? Where do people naturally gather in your ‘hood?
I know community is important to you and you are eager to know your neighbors. Last week twenty-two of you put turquoise tables in your front yards. TWENTY TWO — and those are just the tables you told me about. I’ll be honest — Texas is well represented. But, last week turquoise tables debuted in Utah, California, Minnesota, and Louisiana. I’m dreaming of a map so we can see where all our Front Yard People live. {if you have mad map skills, please let me know!}
On the plane ride home, I asked Sarah, “what was the best thing about New York?”
“Ice cream with rainbow sprinkles from the street cart and playing with my friends in the park,” she answered.
Just to be clear, visiting M&M World and getting cotton candy for dessert at a fancy restaurant also made the list. But, for most of the weekend we hung out in the country’s biggest city in neighborhood playgrounds.
To my knowledge there are no turquoise tables in Manhattan. But, don’t think for a New York minute I’m not dreaming of that too. I think Sesame Street would be a great place to start, don’t you?
What you are modeling in your front yard in Texas ( and beyond) just moved to the various parks of NYC. Building relationships through new and old friends happen at the table or in this case, parks. The Birthday Girl’s wish was granted by just hoping she would have a friend to play with as she does at home. Wish granted. New friends across the miles.
I look forward to a Turquoise Table sighting in the state of New York soon.
Lovely to meet you Kristin.
I hopped over today from Shelly’s Grace Table link.
I’ll cut to the chase:
We have neighbors across the street who are always in their front yard with tons of mixed raced children, junky toys strewn everywhere, who yell a lot. All those ugly, mean, racist parts of my still not fully sanctified outer man came out {and I head up community outreach at our church!} and like so many times before God’s Spirit sat right down next to me and whispered to me and broke me. I have since learned a bit about this family’s story, and had two of their nieces over to play with my girls once {the mother has two young children, one an infant, and recently got custody of her four elementary aged nieces, because as the oldest told me “our mom could not take care of us anymore}. God spoke under no uncertain terms that I am to extend simple friendship to this family, not self-aware Christian charity. We do not have a turquoise table in our front yard, but last year we got a free pool and I painted the deck attached to it: you guessed it, bright turquoise! Upstate NY gets its fair of hot humidity come summer and nothing brings people with kids together like a pool.
Please pray for me, my husband, our four girls, our neighbors Corey and Matt and their six children and our turquoise pool.
Cheers,
Leah
Leah, Thank you for your honesty. I told my kiddos a story last night that has convicted me of late. When we accept Jesus in our hearts — the phrase we love to say as Christians — we must be ready for him to say, “OK. But, I’m bringing ALL these people with me.” It’s easy to love when we get to make the invitation list — but, Jesus’ all inclusive mandate calls us to open our lives and homes to everyone he brings to the table. You write, “I have since learned a bit about this family’s story. . .” Ah, isn’t God’s grace good? When we know each others’ stories there is less and less room for judgement. I am so grateful you took the time to share and am hopeful for the relationships that will grow at the turquoise pool. It’s an honor to pray for you and your neighbors.
My 14 year old daughter and I just returned home from 3 days in NYC as part of an 8th grade trip. Being from pretty sheltered North Idaho, this was a wonderful experience for her. It opened her eyes to so many different cultures, languages and many different types of people. We were impacted by how simple acts of kindness that we offered, gestures we take for granted at home, made a difference to those we interacted with.