Four Generations

As the wife and I were sitting on one of the benches at Waterfront Park yesterday, admiring the beautiful scene before us – surfers at Point Panic, Ala Moana beach just beyond them, and the iconic Diamond Head in the distance – an elderly Asian couple stopped to talk to us.

They asked if we were Korean, because my wife was wearing a Seoul Olympics cap given to me years ago by a colleague who at a U.S. Army Reserve exercise in Korea around the time of the Olympics.

When they discovered we were Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJA), the gentleman remarked that so were they, and asked what generation Americans we were (I get that often).

I told him I was fourth generation American, and that my wife was third generation. Their eyes brightened up. “My husband is second generation,” his wife said, “and I’m first generation.”

Well, how about that. Four generations of AJAs enjoying a chance meeting near the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Only in America, I thought. As it turns out, they are in their mid-80’s and have been married 36 years. We are in our mid-60’s and have been married 43 years. They got a chuckle out of that, saying we had more experience than they did.

Then, as they were turning to leave, the gentleman handed me some Watchtower literature – a little leaflet and a copy of the most recent issue of Awake! magazine.

Usually, when people show up at my door with these things, I cut them off with a curt but polite, “No thank you, not today.” But I couldn’t refuse this nice couple. So I took the literature for a quick perusal before bedtime.

That an interesting afternoon, for sure.