Experience Builds Experience // Love Letter, June 2022

Greetings from Topanga! After a few weeks in Europe, we are back in the canyon and mountains, building an extension of a chicken coop, planting native plants on the hill, and finishing up another year of homeschooling with our girls. At BK, we introduced our new team member to our community during the month of May. I hope you enjoyed meeting Kei virtually through her interview story. She will be at the brick & mother store during our upcoming opening hours so come meet her if you are in town:) I LOVE her to be showered with love and support by our lovely community.

Back in mid-May, on our way home from Europe, we were transiting multiple airports in three different countries. From the rural part of Crete, Greece to Topanga was an all-around 24 hours transit. Even for my adult self, the travel time was long and exhausting with one of the connections in Canada being pretty tight. I marveled at how capable our kids have become of traveling. We, as parents, of course, have grown to be more patient and prepared as our family grew together through traveling ever since they were tiny babies. We used to comb through the airport security with our girls strapped on me or Frido, hauled family-size luggage and a sleeping baby rushing from one terminal to another (and some of the metropolitan airport terminals could have been a mile apart), and changed diapers in a tinier than shoebox bathroom during flights. We had a full-on public tantrum and never-ending tears that made us want to hide deep in the airport cave. Today, Satchi can attempt to lead our way through an international airport, looking for the correct terminal and gate and both kids can manage long flight durations by looking forward to the bird-view scenery from the airplane window, in-flight movies, and audiobooks. Coco, even with her small frame, carries her backpack with everything she needs for her three weeks' stay away from home. 

Frido and I often wondered if our girls will remember any of the experiences from the road (or air) and we often answered each other, "probably not much". And I realized, during this trip, "that's perhaps not the point". The point of doing anything in life is not to simply collect memories that can be neatly archived in our imaginary cabinets. Rather, the point is to be immersed in the adventure because we know that this experience becomes a small stepping stone to the next. In another word, experience builds more experience. 

I can see the same metaphor applying in A.C.'s story about their fountain pen collection. The story is enchanting to read and I love how their curiosity for one fountain pen led to another. On a different tone, I am grateful for Trina's story and her call for silence and reflection. She asks us to lean into the discomfort of experiencing the heartaches so we can move forward with actions that are long-lasting and meaningful. 

This is the beginning of the summer season for many with perhaps more time with family and friends. I hope you are fully there to experience it all. Because experience builds more experience and being there matters. 

-wakako

always a work in progress...

Topanga, California // June 1st, 2022