Mr. Wu arrived this morning to take Scott to work, as he does every morning. But he won't be bringing him home today. Gwen and I both shed some tears this morning about this fact, and I think Mr. Wu was a bit teary too.
Mr. Wu has been our driver here in Shanghai for exactly four years. When Scott first arrived, before the rest of us had moved here, Mr. Wu was the one showing Scott "beautiful Shanghai." He picked our weary, jet lagged family up from the airport and drove us through the summer rain to our apartment on the river. In the early days, before we knew anyone here, sometimes Mr. Wu even hung out in our apartment with us during the day, playing PS-3 with the boys and playdough with the girls. At first his English was spotty, but as time went by and we interacted with him, it improved greatly. I wish I could say the same for my Chinese!
I wrote Mr. Wu a letter yesterday, telling him some of the things I have appreciated about him. A big one is how great he has been with all our family visitors. I think everyone enjoyed meeting him and conversing with him in the car. Most recently, Andrew was trying to teach Mr. Wu some phrases spoken like a true New Yorker- I'm sure I can't do the exchange justice, but we were all laughing! He's always been friendly and a wonderful tour guide.
Scott has often called Mr. Wu "Curious George." He always pointed out to us anything unusual or interesting to him that he saw as we drove- someone selling a turtle by the side of the road, lots of people on one motor bike, etc.
It can't be easy to be thrust into the midst of family dynamics that are so often displayed on a car ride. I remember many rides in the first years we were here where Gwen fussed on and on about her carseat- she never was a fan of carseats, and made sure everyone knew. Mr. Wu patiently endured. We've had our share of disagreements while riding in the car- of course he was there to hear. We've been late and he's been late. We've had the usual last minute panic trying to get ready to leave the house for a trip, hurrying to the airport only to remember some essential that we needed to go back for... Mr. Wu was on the scene, turning the car around and taking us back. It's a bit like having all your underwear out for public view, to have this other person always in the car, but Mr. Wu has always handled us graciously.
One of the the bright spots for me when returning to China from traveling, the first thing I looked for, was Mr. Wu's smiling face waiting for us outside of baggage claim at the Pudong airport. I feel like he welcomed me home again each time.
So Mr. Wu is moving on, and we aren't yet. We've got one more year, and so when Scott comes home from work today, it will be with a different person driving the car. I'm sure it will be someone kind and friendly, someone who will become part of our family for the last year as Mr. Wu has been for the past four years. But we won't forget Mr . Wu, not ever. Praying that God will continue to show Himself to Mr. Wu so that we might see him again in eternity.
Caroline and Madelyn~ these two have been holding hands literally from the first day they met, three years ago this summer, when Caroline's family was new in Shanghai and our two families walked to dinner together after church. Today we said good-bye to Caroline. One of the down sides of this expat life, having dear, dear friends leave every year. Seems somehow the hardest on pre-teen girls. The blessing is that Caroline's family is moving to a place where we will easily be able to see her again, and the girls have already made plans for this summer.
The flip side of this difficulty of having friends leave is that we have friends in so many places now! :-) I had this discussion with some good friends yesterday morning over coffee, ladies I have shared Bible study with over the past several years. We all agree it is so hard to say good-bye, but we definitely feel thankful for the time we've had together, and are richer for knowing one another.
So much fun to photograph these two earlier in the week!
They chose their poses...
The jumping ones were so much fun!
The Liptaks love you, Caroline... especially Madelyn.
