Last year, I was talking to a friend of mine whom I’ve known since elementary school about my oldest daughter, Juliette. At the time she was in kindergarten, and I was mentioning to my friend how Juliette was one of only two Asians in her class. The parallel was that when my friend and I were in elementary school way back when, we were the only two Asians in our class. A couple of months later, my friend dug up this old class picture where you can see the two of us amongst our classmates.

And here is a picture of Juliette’s kindergarten class (just the girls) where you can see Juliette and her other Asian classmate. They are actually best friends and even though, this year, they are not in the same first grade class, they play with each other during every break they get.

While I was growing up, nearly all of my school classmates were non-Asians, which was in direct contrast to my friends at church which were practically all Chinese. Juliette is in a similar situation now except that our church is a little bit more diversified being predominantly Asian American.

I don’t know that I have anything specific to say other than observations and pointing out the parallels. My thought is that diversity is best accomplished as an ongoing process of person to person interactions. It is when we describe or assume in generalities that we take peoples as a whole for granted.

My friend and I actually have two other classmates from elementary school whom we still keep in touch with after all these years. It’s encouraging to see that Juliette is friends with lots of her other classmates as well. One of my hopes for my girls is that they will be able to enjoy as long a friendship with all of their friends as long as I have with mine.

This week marks the end of Juliette’s Kindergarten and my first year driving her to school in the mornings on my way to work. I know that barely counts as carpooling, but the idea that it is now my turn to take my kids to school is yet another milestone in my parenting career.

Some things that I learned or just want to remember from this first year of driving Juliette to school:

1. It’s better to be early in the carpool lane, less stress for everybody, especially the driver.
2. Remember to stop the car before getting out. (ask Juliette, she’ll never let me forget)
3. Keep a bottle of water in the car in case they get thirsty. But don’t let them drink too much.
4. Juliette likes to take the street route rather than the freeway (except when daddy has a dealer loaner 3-series and is driving crazy).
5. Juliette likes to take “big turns”, just have to remember not to spill coffee.
6. NPR is not the best radio station for “young” ears. Turning off the radio to have an actual conversation with my kids is a good thing.
7. It took a whole year for me to finally remember her weekly class schedule. (and now it’s over)

Until the fall…

Oh my, the wisdom of children. And this, coming from a kid who has her own iPAQ. Geeks all around the world are shaking their head in disbelief.