We Have Been Adopted!

Yesterday, since Tom was off for the second day in a row out of three for the Diwali holiday, I suggested that we sit at one of the tables scattered throughout the hotel to play a game of Farkle.  I thought that some of our new friends may happen by and we could entice them to play a game with us.

We found the perfect table and comfy chairs in the main lobby.  We were on our second game, when this little Indian boy kept inching closer and closer to see what we were doing.  When we looked up at him and said hi, he scattered off to be near his father.  A few minutes later, his curiosity got the best of him and he was inching closer again.  Finally, in one swift move, he slid into one of the four chairs surrounding the table we were at.  About that time, one of the elevator doors opened and a number of people exited.  Two young girls were among the people as they stood there talking.  Spotting the young boy who turned out to be the brother of one of them, they came running up to the table asking a dozen questions at once.  

“What are you playing?” the tallest girl asked.

“Farkle” I answered.

“Farkle?” she said.  “How do you play that?”  

Spotting my ‘cheat sheet’ for scoring, she asked if she could see it.  “Yes, of course” I said.

Then the shorter of the two girls asked what our names were.  “This is Tom and I am Gloria” I said.

They ran around the table with their hands extended to shake our hands.  “Nice to meet you, Gloria” they each said as they shook our hands.  “Nice to meet you, Tom”.

They watched and I explained the game as we played.  The tallest girl asked where she could get a copy of the rules for the game.  I told her that if she went online and goggled Farkle, she could print them off. The other girl…a head shorter…started asking questions addressing me as “Auntie”.  She was adorable!  I answered the many questions they had.  They seemed fascinated with everything we had to say.  

They asked if we spoke Hindi.  “No”, I admitted.  “Where are you from?”  I asked.  “A little town north of Mubai” she said.

About this time, her parents were finished with their conversation and her mother approached our little group to retrieve them and apologize if they were bothering us.  “Not at all” I said.  

“Where are you from?” the tallest girl asked.

“America” I answered.

She smiled this huge smile and was so excited. “Oh, America!” she said.  

Her mom, hearing this asked, “America?…Do you like Obama?”  “No” I answered.  “Why?” she asked.  “He has done enough damage to America” I said.  “We wanted Mitt Romney to win.  We think he would be better for America” I said. 

They all had to shake our hands again saying “Welcome to India, Auntie…welcome to India, Uncle!”

Our conversation continued about where they were from and of course the game at hand.  Their parents were ready to go, so they reluctantly left with lots of “Goodbye, Auntie’s!” and “Goodbye, Uncle’s”.  They were just adorable children.

We passed them in the hall last night on our way to dinner.  “Hi Auntie, Hi Uncle!”  Just so cute!

This morning we went down to breakfast and were nearly finished when their families walked in.  When the tallest girl saw us, she came running over to our table with the other two close behind.  “Hello Auntie, hello Uncle!”  They each shook our hands again.  The mom came over then to chat with us.  I asked her how old they were.  The two girls are 9 and the little boy is 5.  Evidently the tallest girl and the little boy are hers while the other shorter girl belongs to another couple they were traveling with.  I told her what adorable children they were…so polite and inquisitive.  She told me that they are always talking to people when they travel.  They want to know everything they can about other parts of the world.  They have this wonderful curiosity about the world and it’s inhabitants.  After learning new things about other countries, they tend to make up lovely stories about sitting and talking with people from different lands.

What a special experience we have had with them!  I know they will go far in this world.  I hope they continue to have that love for knowledge and travel. Reminds me of our granddaughters!  Gracie is just as outgoing and inquisitive as these children are.  I’m not sure how long they will be at our hotel, but hoping we run into them again.  I think they have adopted us.  It feels very special when they call us “Auntie and Uncle”.

I would have taken a picture, however, I didn’t want to freak their parents out!  I wouldn’t want strangers taking pictures of my granddaughters no matter how harmless they seemed.