Sijo

“Look boys here she comes!" my dad yelled and we all ran to the airplane exit. We meet people at the airport a lot, but not usually the international airport, and not usually my mom and a new little baby sister. There my mom was, walking out of the walkway with a little Korean baby in her arms -- my new sister!

“She’s so cute,” I said. I was eight.

“Can I hold her?" asked my brother. He was four.

My mom handed the four-month-old baby carefully to my clad. The baby gurgled happily and spit up a little. We named her "Sijo," which my mom translates as “ancient poem.” Sijo is the ancient poetic tradition of Korea, as haiku is the ancient poetic tradition of Japan. The Sijo form is made of three lines, just like haiku, and my mother says Sijo is the third and last line of her and my dad’s family poem.

My dad passed Sijo to me, and I felt the warm baby fat through my hands as I set her down on my knee and bounced her. She giggled and I giggled even more. David hugged her tightly and she touched his face with a pudgy baby hand. On the car ride home, my brother and I took turns playing with her, and eventually she fell asleep.

Sijo is a learner, and learned to talk and walk well quickly (with David’s and my help, of course). She has always had some trouble pronouncing her R’s, but that just makes everything she says even cuter. I remember a time in the car with Sijo and my friend Ernie. Sijo, who was about two, was happily sipping a vanilla steamer as my mom drove us back home to my house

“Tthhbbbtttt!!!!! Can you do that?” Ernie asked.

“TTTtttkkkkkbbbbbttttt!!!!”

“Wow! How about Bllaaaaeeeedeerrrr Bllaaaaeeeedeerrrr!!!!”

“Blaaeeeceeeder Blaaeeederrrrrrr!!!!!”

“Sijo, what is the meaning of life?” I asked.

“I dwinks my steamer!” Sijo replied clearly and immediately Ernie and I thought that this was very profound.

“What’s the meaning of life now, Sijo," Ernie asked another time.

“Ewnie is a witch!”

“I think Sijo has some special wisdom about the meaning of life, or at least about how to have fun with life. She is almost always happy, and makes everyone else happy too. Everyone is her friend, even teenagers and adults. She is amazingly social. Many people knew David and me as "Sijo's brothers”.

Sijo at five, is a wonderful beginning ballerina, swimmer, singer, Irish dancer, and rap artist. She is good at tons of stuff, and is always fun to be around. You all wish you had a sister like her.