Monday, March 15, 2010

One Thousand Cranes

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In Asia, it is commonly said that folding one thousand paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true.


Sometimes, I have to call out his name to see where he is in the house. He's always been like this, quiet ... and somewhere. And it wasn't like it was with his brothers, never if there's quiet, there's trouble, but more of a, he's quiet, let's go find him.

We'd search him out, and there he'd be; alone, silent, with his drawing pad under the dining room table. Only four-years-old but already sketching a tiger completely detailed with green eyes and a tassled tail; or quietly rolling out anatomically perfect scorpions from clay.

Or folding.

Folding and folding his paper origami.

My husband, who is a conservative white collar worker by day and secret renaissance man at home, is the one who has introduced all three of our boys to what has become the major hobby in their lives.

He began our oldest son, now 17, with piano at age five.

With our youngest, he has shared his love of basketball, football, soccer, anything athletic.

Our middle son, the quiet one, was four-years-old, when one day -- as he sat drawing by himself, my husband sat down next to him, two shiny squares of paper in his hand. Cross legged on the floor, my husband silently, slowly began folding a 6x6 inch flat sheet into an origami crane.

With his thumbnail, he drew a sharp crease in the shiny gold foil, allowing time in between each fold for our son to imitate the precise movements with his own piece. I saw something in our peaceful son's eyes come alive with that very first time of paper folding. As he watched his father, I remember him breathlessly saying, "It's so cool that I can make my own toys."

Our son had found his thing; through my husband, he has learned the art of origami.

He has been folding origami for nine years now.

It suits his personality: he's happy in his own company, he becomes absorbed in his activities, and he is fueled by instant results from his labor. Some of his origami pieces can take up to one hundred folds and an hour and a half of dedicated work. When all the steps are complete, he holds the transformed paper in his hands and with self-affirming pride, admires what he has created from a square sheet of paper.

While he folds, he holds an instructional dialogue with me:

"Mom, did you know that the biggest mistake people make with origami is to not prefold?"

"Mom, did you know that if you think you can't do an origami any longer, you can just try again the next day?"

I have learned that when he is folding, it is the best time for me to catch a glimpse into those thoughts he keeps to himself, to find out more about who this pensive child of ours is.

At times, when he is so into his paper zone that he won't hear us call him, I'll send one of his brothers to go and check on him, to see how he's doing. They always return with the same news, "he's fine, Mom, he's just at the table, folding."

This pastime of paper folding has allowed him entry into the popularity clubs at school that would ordinarily be closed to someone in the outer circle like him. During class downtime, he'll begin to fold paper into fish, or frogs, or boxes, and a crowd will soon gather and with astonished praise, say, "That is so cool! Can you make me one?" In his non-hurried manner, he'll smile, happy to be accepted; reach for another sheet, and begin folding to make the paper crane, cricket, frog, to give to whomever wanted one, while they stand around -- quiet, much like him -- and watch.

I stand behind him sometimes, captured by his hands folding and refolding so deliberately, without a sound. I know that he is nowhere else at the moment, but in his zen of creating.

He once left me speechless with his remark of, "Mom, I know how I feel when I make something from nothing ... I can't even imagine how God felt when he made flowers and bugs."

He is my beautifully quirky son, and he has taught me to seek the quiet, feel the peace of still, and to find a moment by stepping out of the whizzing world for awhile.

"Mom," he asks me, between folds, "do you know the story of One Thousand Cranes? The story goes that if a person makes One Thousand Cranes, that their wish will come true?"

I don't have to make One Thousand Cranes, honey, I don't.

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28 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! I'm loving back at ya. I believe we've found our blogging soulmates, you and I. You're a riot. Time to follow!

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  2. oops. you'll love this, i just "followed" you on my mother's account. sorry! but hey, it gave you another follower. let me see if i can figure this out. what a dork i am. :-)

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  3. This one made me get tears in my eyes with your not having to make 1000 cranes to get your wish granted. He sounds so beautiful and peaceful. Awesomely put and you are one lucky chica!

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  4. Dear Dusty earth mother:

    you made my day, so we're even!!

    Thank you so much for your encouraging comments. They do lift me up. Seriously, we all read your pugpee on the girlscout cookies here, and crazy Leiko.

    hilarious, but I could match you story for story...thank you again!

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  5. What a beautiful post. Your husband has given your whole family a gift with this hobby.

    Thanks for your wonderful comments on my blog.

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  6. Thank you, Ann! Found you through LJKGW. You are so very funny, and I was surprised to see you're in Madison. I'll have to forward the cryptojew website to you :)!

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  7. What a beautiful story. I love you and your family. You are a very talented writer you know!! I love the way you weaved that all together with the one thousand paper crane story. And btw! I love oragami too. Even if I'm not very good at it myself. Nino's getting into it too.

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  8. PS I cannot thank you enough for all the wonderful comments you left on my blog yesterday. It was like Christmas in March. For reals. I heart you, Empress. Big time.

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  9. Hey There..this was beautiful..I love paper folding as well..havent done it in years..very soothing..it was so beautiful what he said about knowing how God must have felt...profound, he is..!! Im glad weve met ..Im following as well..!EnJoY YoUr DaY..!

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  10. Thank you, Robin! Loved meeting you! Thank you for your visit and your follow!

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  11. this entire post was very quiet and beautiful...a wonderful piece of my not-so wonderful morning. thank you for that. :)

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  12. Thank you, Tiffany! I enjoyed all your posts this morning, I need to get funnier like you. Enough with the introspection already! Thank you for the visit and very kind comment.

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  13. I just tried to submit a comment but not sure if it went through...(please ignore if you already received one!) I just loved this post - all of it!! The sweet description of your son, the things he said to you (about God and the story of 1000 cranes), and the ending. Just beautiful!! This also resonates with me so much as my son was born in Japan and he too LOOOOVES origami! He loves doing it for his classmates too and he just learned how to make a crane by himself the other day. It's a lovely hobby and I am so glad that your son has kept at it for so long! Good for him!

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  14. Well, that gave me the good kind of chills. That is so sweet. You are wonderful. Your family is wonderful.

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  15. i really love this. I'm glad Girl Next Door suggested it. My TWLITB loves origami, too.

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  16. What fabulous storytelling, writing, and loving! I am delighted to have discovered you through the iWrite-iBlog-iWin contest.

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  17. Beautiful story Alexandra, I can't believe I hadn't read it before. This is certainly one of your best!

    Your son sounds simply amazing, beautiful, smart, and funny. What a wonderful story to celebrate who he is. Love it.

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  18. This is fabulous! I loved reading! I found you through The Girl Next Door and am your newest follower.

    ~Carla
    www.jollyjansen.blogspot.com
    http://HoustonParentsMagazine.com

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  19. Beautiful post Empress. Love the way you love your sons. I feel the same about mine.

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  20. Our children give us the honor of watching miracles unfold. (or prefold in your son's case)

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  21. Beautiful boy.

    They were right to pick this for Voices.:)

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  22. Oh my heart. Each unique soul is a gift, but wow. Fantastically captured my friend.

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  23. Congrats. I love this and you.

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  24. Beautiful story, nicely written. Of course I loved the tale of your son, but you have a particularly perceptive husband. Is your husband as good at origami as your son? Or did he just think he might like it? Great story...

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  25. I have reread this no less than 4 times now. Stunning what you do with words. You make me love your son. I want to stand behind him, watching over his shoulder as we folds. Beautiful.

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  26. It is such a neat thing. My teachers would let me teach the class how to do certain animals. Who? Me? Center stage? Never. Ahem.
    I loved using it for lessons when I taught as well - it's just so beautiful.

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  27. Wow...this just about took my breath away. I especially loved ~ "I have learned that when he is folding, it is the best time for me to catch a glimpse into those thoughts he keeps to himself, to find out more about who this pensive child of ours is."

    I totally understand what you mean.

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