Jude

I found my sister Emma's look-alike.  Jude has brown hair that is curly around the edges and falls to just below their shoulders, deep brown eyes that can sparkle with amusement, and a slender body build that given the right coaching could produce a stellar athlete. But it wasn't simply Jude's physical characteristics that reminded me of my little sister. The moment Jude walked in with her mother and noticed the many people sitting on the patio that she didn't recognize, she clung to her mother and would hardly leave her side. Emma used to be just as shy.  Now, she is one of the more outgoing out of the bunch of us kids. That being said, there is hope for Jude. It only took me an hour or two before we were playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” It wasn't without effort on my part though. It required a paper frog that actually jumps, several questions that she could answer with either holding up fingers such as how old are you, asking even more questions with a barely perceptible tsk for a no, and a paper rose. At that point her interest was peaked enough that she would answer my questions. At first she would talk through her mom, but eventually she was comfortable enough to speak to me directly. We talked about food and the fact that neither one of us like mulukhia and her favorite fruit which just happens to be watermelon. We talked about her favorite color, orange. We talked about animals and it turns out that her favorite animal isn't a nice pet type of animal such as a cat or dog, but a lion. At least that's what her favorite animal was that day. And we got a picture together. I don't think she was actually smiling in the picture because every time her mom would pull out the camera, she would suddenly remember that she only met me that night and would fall silent again. She also wouldn't look at the camera. I know cameras can be scary, but she was having none of it. The whole evening was very enjoyable. There was good food, good company, and good conversation. When Jude and her family got up to leave, each one of the younger girls was allowed one of the sweets on the table to eat. And yes, Jude took my recommendation. Who knows? Maybe she would have chosen that one anyway. If so, all that means is that she has excellent taste in her desserts. If not, then I made a new friend and that's something that someone can never have too many of.

=)