Making Memories

Do you like stuff?

I love stuff. I love cell phones, computers, video games, iPods, kindles, books and just about anything electrical. I love puzzle cubes, new TVs, printers and office supplies.

A few years ago a close friend told us, “Spend your money making memories, not buying things.” Some years I’ve been successful at this task, and other years I haven’t been as successful. Yesterday, I was successful. Yesterday, I took Lydia to the Kansas City Japan Festival at Johnson County Community College.

Japan Festival

Over the last several years Lydia has developed a love for Japanese culture. Her deepest passion has been for Japanese Anime. Her room walls are covered by a dozen or so posters from a variety of shows. The Japanese culture has had a very positive affect on Lydia. Many of these Anime shows have a powerful family overtone in them. The Japanese culture is very family driven overall, and Lydia has really embraced this ideal. Her desire for closer family relationships has really blossomed as a result of her love for this culture.

Lydia wasn’t the only Anime fan in attendance. There were at least a hundred people of all ages running around in costume. Lydia posed with as many as possible. Everyone was very accommodating.

Lydia even had a chance to meet a singing artist from Japan, Aya Uchida. She convinced her to do some poses together.

I was able to get her name written in Japanese.

She had a chance to paint her own Anime Frame.

In the book “The Five Love Languages of Teenagers” Gary Chapman says that real quality time with our teens is more about what they want to do than what we want to do (pg 87). Yesterday was a powerful example of this truth. I spent an entire day with my daughter exploring what she is passionate about. She told me several times it was a day she will never forget.

None of the stuff I’ve ever purchased has told me that.

James & Lydia