“Thank you for indulging me.” While I’m not as excited about today’s field trip as Sophie, her enthusiasm is contagious. Such as when she gets excited about going to the movies. Or the way she laughs when we’re running to catch the ferry back to Manhattan. Or how she claps at parades and throws her arms around me after I come home from a three-day lockdown. These are the little things that make me realize how much Sophie matters to me, and how much I enjoy being with her. They’re also a reminder of what I would miss if I lost her. And I’m afraid that when I tell her about this ability I have and that I don’t want it to go away, she isn’t going to stick around. “It’s so beautiful,” Sophie says as we approach the bright red doors that mark the entrance to the temple. “So spiritual.” I smile and nod, though I can’t help but think how the Mahayana Buddhist Temple hasn’t always been a place of religious mediation and spiritual connection.
