A Child's Eye View of a Family Visit

My wife and I sometimes watch ‘Wheel of Fortune’.  Yep, I’ll admit to some ‘worldly’ stuff in my life. Like dreaming of winning some exotic vacation in New Zealand or somewhere in the Caribbean. But you know what? So far I’ve primarily taken my dearest one to some of the poorest places on the planet. Well, we did live in Europe for a long time—and missed a lot of the typical vacation places most Americans head for (in 28 years, I never went to Heidelberg, but then, you’ve probably never been to Yellowstone either, right?).

I’ll probably always dream of ‘romantic getaways’—which may not be so romantic once you get there (being a pessimist at heart, the first thing I think of are news stories on the web about cruises where everybody comes down with food poisoning), but in a way, neither of us would have it any other way.

But pause for a moment to think about what it means for our workers to get a visit from home. Here’s a sample—written from the kids’ perspective—of one m*ssion*ry family (come to think of it—maybe it’s more special to them than my dreams of New Zealand?):

Dear Cousin Alyssa,*

We loved playing hide-and-seek with you, finding you behind shower curtains and closet doors. You taught us the thrill of hiding quietly, waiting in anticipation for you to find us. And you're smart, you know, because somehow you always knew where to look.

Mommy and Daddy loved playing games with you too. We noticed they put aside their usual evening "computer work" for playing games around the dinner table. Grown-up games with trains and houses and tracks! It was good to see Mommy and Daddy play.

And you made us laugh. Your silly songs, jokes, and stories made us giggle from the pit of our tummies. Made us throw back our heads and howl, brought out the twinkle in our eyes. At night, as we lay in our beds, we could hear Mommy and Daddy's laugh echoing down the hallway too. We liked that sound.

And oh, the adventures with you! The trip to the mosque and fort and tower and the ride to the border. The bike rides around the center of town and the yummy schnitzel and noodles you made for us!

We heard Mommy and Daddy talking about how your visit was a "refreshing gift." Though we don't know what that means, we could tell from the smile on their faces and the calm in their voices that Mommy and Daddy were happy you took a very long airplane ride to see us. We've heard Mommy say our city is a place no one really wants to visit, but you came anyway!
So, we hope you'll take another airplane ride over the ocean again one day. Because we've heard Mommy say how much the people here liked you.

And you know what?

We love you too.
Love,
little s,f, and r 

*Names, and some facts changed for security purposes