One Saturday morning, March, the beginning of Summer, at Suwannabhumi Airport, arrival hall, there was a man standing and looking up to the announcement board. “There! 07:55 am, TG123 from Chiang Mai, Landed. Arrived before schedule.”, he thought. He looked at his watch. It’s 08:05am. “Well, it should be fine. I am still on time.” That man was me.

That day, my cousin brought his families to Bangkok for a vacation. His kids were out of school and looking forward for this trip. It’s my second time meeting the kids. My first time was last year but at that time I did not have a chance to talk and get to know them at all. So I was also wondering what the kids would be like. I was a bit nervous. While waiting, I had nothing much to do, so I wandered around the arrival hall. Flipped through a few books. Nothing interesting. Thirty minutes passed, no one came out of the arrival gate.

I picked up my mobile and punched in the number. No signal. “He still does not turn on the phone.”, I guessed. Another 15 minutes passed, now I was stressed and tried to call my cousin again.

“Hello”, my cousin answered the phone.

“Hi, where are you? Is there any problem?”, I asked in a hurry.

“Oh, there is a problem with the luggage belt. We just get our bags. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. Then, I’ll see you in a bit.”

Here we go! The kids’ sound, small and loud, was heard from a distance. The boy was 7 and the girl was 3. It’s time!

“Hello. Do you wait for a long time?”, my aunt asked.

“Not at all. It’s ok. Are you tired? Does anyone want to use the toilet?”

“No need. Let’s go to Pattaya. The kids are dying to see the sea.”, his wife said and turned her face to the little girl.

What a cute face! My niece’s round face and her Chinese eyes fixed on mine. She must be wondering “Who are you? Do I know you? Have we met before?”–that sort of questions. All I could do was smiling and saying “Hi kiddo.” Still not a smile from her. Kids must have a special radar that picks up some weird vibe from adult, I guess. As for my nephew, he’s much older than his sister so his radar was kind of fading, I guess (again).

“How’s your first flight? Did you enjoy it?” I asked my nephew and tried to break the ice.

“It’s alright. All I saw was cloud. It’s not fun at all.”, he replied.

My first thought was that why wasn’t it fun? My first flight was full of excitement and expectation. Do you still remember the first time you were on a plane? I think it’s probably that we are getting many things too easy and quick. Now, taking a flight is very common comparing to the past 15-20 years. Why do I feel that nowadays children are taking many things for granted? They have a hot temper and very demanding. Well, I just don’t want to feel that way with my nephew.

Nonetheless, children will always be children. When both of them saw my car, they shouted and screamed. “It’s papa’s dream car!!!” My brother told me that he wanted to buy this same model. That’s why they were excited seeing my car. I thought, they were just kids and so innocent. My car was just a normal Japanese car, nothing fancy. But they thought it’s the best in the world. So the first thirty minutes, both of them just admired my car and kept talking about it.

My niece: “Papa’s dream car. I want the pink. Papa, I want the pink car.

“My Nephew: “No! I want black. Papa, please buy the black one.”

My niece: “Pink!”

My nephew: “Who will sit in the pink car?”

Both of them just argued over the color of their dream car. When I left the parking building, their attention turned to other things such as the road, the trip, the food, etc. I just kept smiling and driving as well as listening to the kids’ conversation.

My niece: “Mama, where is an elephant?”

Mama: “There are no elephants in Bangkok, only in Chiang Mai.”

My niece: “But I want to see the elephant. Oh oh…the pink car.”

Grandma: “Look! There’s another pink car.”

My niece’s eyes were widen and turned her head around to see the pink taxi that following at the back. She loved everything in pink. My nephew just sat quietly reading cartoon book showing no interest in anything. My brother felt to sleep and left my sister taking care of my niece,who was full of energy and did not go to sleep at all.

During the trip, I was trying to talk to my niece.

Me: “Hey, look at that! Don’t you see that big pink bus? Now the pink taxi just transformed to the pink bus. See?”

My niece: “Where is it?”

My sister: “Umm…Why don’t you ask uncle Ek?”

My niece: “Uncle Ek, where is the big pink bus?”Me: “Over there. Keep watching. It might transform back to the smaller pink car.”

My niece: “Where? Where?”

Then I drove pass that bus. She said “Wow…the big pink bus.”

In split of second, there was one pink taxi passed us; so I told her “Look! There! It transformed back to the smaller car. See?”

My niece: “The pink car.” Smile and happy.

Just a short period of time that I spent my time with kids, I believe that they are really full of imagination. Everything is possible in their mind. That’s why we have to grow creativity for our children from the early age. Adults are full of dullness and I am trying hard not to be one of them. Now I am kind of understanding why people say “I wish I could have turned back to my childhood.”, or “Well, look at that smile. It’s just brighten up my day.”, or “Kids are like a blank white canvas.” What is missing in the adults?, I wondered.