PerspectivZ, Emily & Mina!

Emily and her daughter, Mina, radiate a warmth and energy that captivate your heart and imagination instantly.  On Sunday, September 10, we spent an afternoon together, the three of us.  I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch at Good Honest Grub (an expat hangout in Harajuku, Tokyo) and afterward a girls-only clothing swap with these two delightful people. 

Emily is 26 and she has been a mom for two years.  When I asked her what she loves doing, in addition to raising Mina, she told me this, ' I love sewing.  I love cutting and making patchwork flags.  The flags are like windhorses and I give them to friends as gifts for weddings.'  As she told me this, Mina, who was busy trying to put Emily's digital camera back into the case looks up at her mom and goes, 'Difficult!'  Emily calmly takes the camera out of Mina's hands, places it gently back in the case and looks back at me with a look that says, now, where were we?

Emily grew up in Japan and spent her early years in an Evangelical School where kids grades 1-12 studied together.  She left the school and left behind that kind of education long ago, pursuing courses, now, in Montessori and child development.  She sees herself as a filter for her daughter, because, 'living in this Information Age there is so much that needs to be filtered.' 

Her daughter came into her life in August 2004.  Emily gave birth to her in her own home, with the assistance of two mid-wives.  She feels home birth was the right decision for her because, 'you're in your own space.  You can just stay in your bed after the birth.' As she recounted the story of the birth, her eyes widened and her posture shifted.  She raised both arms and gestured as though she were putting a scarf around her neck saying that that is the way Mina was born, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck so.  One of the mid-wives had orange skin and long, artificial nails.  She couldn't help but think, 'what if one of her nails got stuck inside me?!'  When Mina was born she cried out, 'Ukeeaaaa!' like a Japanese child would, instead of the familiar 'Waaaaah!' of most Western-born children.  Emily laughs as she recounts the story. 

Mina looks up at her mom as Emily tells me about how her daughter had the Mongolian blue spot on her tailbone, like some Asian children do when they are born.  'I had a bruise!' says Mina.  Emily's mom is from Japan and her dad from Britain.  So, while Emily speaks to Mina in English, her mom speaks to her in Japanese.  And because she lives in Japan Mina can actually translate most of what she hears in daily conversation.

If Emily could wish one thing for her daughter it would be to see her 'be able to move about.  Be really physical.  I don't care about if she's clever or not, just as long as she can move about --- Live life, rather than conceptualize it.'

She has a similar wish for you zaadzsters out there:  Don't get tunnel vision.  Take a look back at things.  It's like painting a picture - when it gets all mucky, look back.  You are the audience.  Clean it up a bit, it's a mess.  As a creative person, know you are the audience as well.


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PerspectivZ is the supplement to the Zaadz interview blog and will come out as often as life presents the opportunity to me to hear the stories of the people that make our world a better place.