Frozen Teardrop by Lucinda Ruh Read Free Book Online Page A

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3
The Three Curses or Blessings?
    TOKYO
    Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. A blessing or a curse?
    A new journey in any context is always a step to widen your horizons. It breaks you free from ties and bridges and it allows you to erase all your history, presenting you with a clean slate on which you can rewrite your identity. Yet a new journey can also bring incredible struggles and trials that no one could fathom nor expect. I am meticulous about everything I care and am passionate about. I want to describe the details of my life as if they are sparks from a shooting star, painting every movement I make to match what I feel inside. This must have been a huge task for my mother to deal with in my childhood. If something did not match what I was conceptualizing inside I would erupt with crying fits. It was as if I wanted the outside world to match my fairy-tale world exactly as I saw and felt it in every little detail. This is how I would skate as well. I gave every little detail in life a chance to let it take a breath of air.
    After my first four intense and inspiring years in charming Paris, with many growing aspirations and my mind opening up to more ideas than it actually could process, I was filled to full capacity. With my sister also blossoming from her years there, it seemed like it was time to move on and my father had news for us. His trips before, mainly to Africa, had also now taken him farther than we had envisioned — including the distant land of Asia — and his news would reflect his travels. He announced to us that he had accepted an even bigger opportunity within his company with a position overlooking the whole Asian region. It was an opportunity too good to pass by, and we were all to move to Tokyo, Japan in 1984.
    My mother was without hesitation, excited by the challenge. She had always had a deep affinity for Asian culture, but until now had no reason to cultivate it. This news brought life to her heart. My sister was also thrilled, thinking in her teenage mind that it was very cool. She readily accepted the change with the one condition that she would be able to continue her skating and practice every day with a coach. I was only four years old. I just wanted to be with my family. Naturally I went along, as ultimately I would always do.
    We would not take a direct flight from Paris to Tokyo as my parents wanted to show us the world and had the great fortune to be able to do this. My father planned our trip so that we would fly from Paris to New York City, take a helicopter ride around Manhattan, and stay a little while to enjoy American culture while seeing Broadway shows and trying on the high-fashion attire of the fashion city of the world. Then we’d fly to Disney World in Florida where we would celebrate my 4th birthday. After that we would lift off to Maui to tan under the sun and swim with the dolphins before finally jetting off to Tokyo with Japan Airways. We traveled first class on the Asian airline because my father wanted to give us a feel for Asian culture even if it were 25,000 feet in the air before being engulfed by it upon arrival.
    On the flight leaving from Paris to New York City many tears streamed down my mother’s face. Leaving was not what she was best at doing and the flight attendants were very concerned about my mother as they tried to calm her down. But as we arrived in New York my mother was once again all smiles. The helicopter ride over the sights of Manhattan was a feast to the eyes and the few days we spent there were filled with culture trips in this totally diverse culture to exhibits reflecting the personalities of the American people. A feeling of freedom filled the streets. It gave me a sense of what I would always look for in my life from then on.
    Disney World was unique and filled all my childhood expectations of a fantasyland. I loved Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh. I was elated to wake up on my birthday to a stuffed