[Life's Bookmark] A Tea Party with Pebbles and Seashells. A Special Afternoon After a Field Trip.

Hello, this is Teruteru.

In our home, we have two sisters with a six-year age gap: a Mini-Godzilla (3rd grade) and a Toddler-Godzilla (2 years old).

It was a special afternoon after a field trip, with school ending earlier than usual and no homework.


The children gathered in a neighbor's garden and began an improvised game of house, using the rice fields and plants before them as their stage.

This is a record of the magical time when children turn pebbles and seashells into 'delicious treats,' and me quietly watching over them.

Improvised pretend play with children of different grades and genders

The other day, my eldest daughter's elementary school had a field trip.

It was a slightly special afternoon, with school ending earlier than usual and no homework.
Children naturally gathered in the garden of a friend in the neighborhood.

Spread out before them were lush green rice fields. Five neighborhood kids gathered and started playing outside.

They decided to play 'house' first, and roles were somehow assigned among them, including my daughter, despite their different grades and genders.

The children appointed as the mother and older sister were enthusiastically preparing soup with muddy water. Wanting to add vegetables, they all ran off at once to pick 'leaves from around there'.

A surprise water gun attack and a once-in-a-lifetime request

Each of them finished making their elaborate dishes, and soon the food was lined up on a spot serving as a dining table.

On leaf plates sat 'delicious' treats made of seashells and pebbles.

'It's just like a tea party.'

As I thought that and lovingly pointed my camera at them, a cold shock ran down my back.

It was a surprise attack from a boy with a water gun. I thought, 'I've been had.'

Since I had to walk home afterward, I desperately pleaded, 'I'm begging you for the only time in my life, please don't get my bottom wet...!'

The children's mischievous laughter echoed through the garden.

The magic of being able to play infinitely in a place with nothing at all

Rice paddy paths, plants, pebbles, and seashells.

Things that appear to adult eyes as merely part of nature, in their hands, instantly transform into exquisite soups or colorful sweets.

I watched their backs as they played with such absorption, feeling a bit impressed—and perhaps a little envious—that they could play for so long with just these things.

The power to color the world with only what is right in front of you, which we forget as we grow up.

In the soft breeze of May, the children are piling up little miracles again today.

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