• Walter Heads Home

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    Walter

    Tonight, we spent the early part of the evening with Walter, saying goodbye.

    My sister’s exchange student, Walter departed this evening to head back home to China after spending a school year here in Albuquerque.  My brother and his family, my parents, and my sister’s husband’s mother met Walter for dinner at Applebee’s near the airport for a sendoff meal.  Walter shared with us a few departing gifts, as we also gave him a few.  He’s ready to go, and yet, not really.

    He’s enjoyed his year here, and I think he wishes he could stay longer.  What is clear, though, is that Walter had a great year living with my sister’s family, and he really soaked himself in life while he was here.  Walter spent his junior year at Eldorado High School, and he did well enough to make the National Honor Society for the year. He was a big brother to my sister’s two sons during this time, which I know they really appreciated.

    Walter said a high point of being here was making a robot with a team from school which competed with other robots Battle Bot style.  Yeah, his robot lost, he shared, but he learned a lot about how to make an automaton and he knew what he would do to improve it next time around.

    When asked about the favorite places he went to while here, his first choice was going up to Durango, and skiing with my sister’s family.  That trip really stood out to him. The second place he appreciated was visiting White Sands National Park here in New Mexico.  He thought the sand was fascinating.  My brother reminded him he went to the Grand Canyon, and asked him how he liked that trip. “It was okay. I liked White Sands better. It was more interesting.”

    We also asked him what his favorite place to eat was while he was here. We tried to get him hooked on our favorite family restaurant here in town by taking him to it fairly regularly- La Salita- but that one wasn’t the winner. It was the Elephant Bar.  He liked the Elephant Bar.

    I didn’t get to spend as much time with Walter as I wish I could have. I did see him off and on at gatherings at my sis’, or at family events, where we were all together to eat and yack.  Walter did take the time several months ago to make us an authentic Chinese meal, which he, a sixteen-year old, made mostly by himself, to feed a group of 15 or so.  It was a fantastic meal.  Walter also had gifts for everyone at Christmas, and I think joining my sister’s family, he in no time felt comfortable and at home with them, and with the rest of us.  He was so well-composed, and patient, and inquisitive, and respectful.

    I did get to spend some time with Walter on Sunday evening.  I took him to the County Line for dinner, where both enjoyed a sandwich and talked a little about his trip back to China, and about his time in New Mexico, and people he had met, and things he had done. After dinner, he came and visited with me for a while at my home, sharing with me how the Chinese school system worked, and how every level of a student’s schooling impacted his or her future.  Competition insures the best and brightest rise to the top, and he is works very hard to be one of those.

    Walter plans to return to the States in a year or so to attend a college. He took his SAT’s and has two weeks to wait for his results, but he would love to attend any of a few schools if he can land one: Cal Berkeley, or Michigan, or Stanford, if things really went right.  He wants to be around great minds- Nobel Laurette minds- and soak their teaching up. He would like to be an engineer of some sort.

    I asked him about women and dating and marriage, and he coyly said “I don’t think about those things now.”  He is too young and has too many plans ahead, too many classes to conquer, too many choices to clear before he can think about that.  “I’m only sixteen,” he says.

    Walter flies tonight to L.A., and then from L.A., he flies for a long time to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, he will meet his dad and they will reconnect for two days before he heads back towards his hometown.  Walter has stayed up the last few nights late to prepare for the weird hours around flying, and to deal with jetlag.  Walter is smart.

    For his last New Mexico meal, Walter wanted a steak, so he got a Whisky Bourbon something-or-other Steak, medium well done, that came with mashed potatoes and some raspberry tea.  He talked to each of us as we fired parting questions to him about his packing, his meal, his gifts, his memories, and his flights, and then he turned and talked to my brother’s kids, in simple dialogues.  We finished our meals and then went out in front of the restaurant to say goodbyes and to snap a few pictures, and then my parent’s drove him on up the hill to get him checked in for his flight.

    My parents will miss Walter a lot- particularly my Dad, I think.  He and Walter gelled quickly after Walter arrived here, and they mutually enjoyed each other from the start.  My Dad took a lot of time being around Walter and talking to him and helping him.

    If anything, my Mom taught Walter, an only child in a fairly-serious family, how to hug.  Unaccustomed to PDA’s, Walter learned in no time, and learned with appreciation,  that hugs are a good thing to share.  My mom is good at teaching people that.  As is my sister.

    I am proud of my sister and her family for welcoming Walter, and taking him in, and loving him, because they treated him just like part of their family, and he became part of it. Walter said their family was “the best exchange student family in Albuquerque… who got best exchange student in Albuquerque (said with a smile).”  I think he is right on both accounts.

    Love is not always direct, made explicit through point-blank words and exemplary actions.  Sometimes love grows up between people because prior to its announcement, one party works to make the other, well, simply comfortable.  Sometimes love grows out of simply realizing you are so comfortable being around someone else.  A friendly, welcoming, supporting space, where strangers can just be themselves together can work wonders for creating attachments and affections.

    Walter- have a great trip.  We’ll see you when you get back here in a year or so for a visit.  You’ve been a great member of our family, and we’ll miss you.

    About

    A web programmer by day, I somehow still spend a lot of time thinking about relationships, God, and the significance of grace and love in daily events. I am old school in the sense that I believe in the reality of sin, and in the need of each human heart for deliverance to the Divine. I am one of those who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that you can find most answers to life's pressing issues in Him and His Word, the Bible. I ain't perfect, and a lot of the time I ain't good, but by God's grace and kindness, I am forgiven and free.

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