— I call it a borrowed day because nothing about it belonged to my present life.
By chance, I ended up spending a day out with an internet friend, taking care of a little kid. A five-year-old boy’s energy is unbelievably boundless — you’re already panting and exhausted, and he’s just getting started. You have no choice but to keep playing with him. But watching a child have so much fun, laughing so happily — it somehow makes it all worth it.
I vaguely remember being in middle school, stumbling across something about kids in a magazine and getting really interested. I’d quietly tell myself: this stuff might be useful someday, I should note it down. I’d occasionally wonder — how should I educate and guide my own children someday? How can I help them grow up happy? After all, no child asks to be brought into this world.
For the past six months or so, I’ve been reading Caring for Your Baby and Young Child by the American Academy of Pediatrics, though I’m embarrassed to say I still haven’t finished it. The purpose is simple — learn some proper, evidence-based parenting concepts and methods ahead of time. Sure, I don’t even have a girlfriend yet, but learning something new is never a bad thing — especially something I might actually need someday.
Anyway — kids are genuinely sweet and adorable. Every age is unique in its own way. I think maybe I like kids because when I’m playing with them, I become a “kid” myself. That probably fits my slightly dorky personality. And the cutest thing about them is their innocence. Or, to put it another way — they’re easy to fool.
This outing with the internet friend and Tiantian was completely unexpected. I thought it was just a casual joke at first. I was actually a bit worried — what if the kid doesn’t like me? That’s happened before. So I hesitated a little about whether to go. But I went. And thank goodness I did, because that’s how I got this borrowed day.
Honestly, there was a bit of an ulterior motive. Spending the day with Tiantian wasn’t entirely about Tiantian — it was more about hanging out with the internet friend. On the day we went for vaccinations, I didn’t expect we’d end up going to so many places. The plan was just to get the shot and come back. I didn’t expect we’d also visit a place I’d been secretly looking at on the map for a while — Fuyang High School.
My first impression of Fuyang was the Fuchun River. And my earliest knowledge of the Fuchun River came from the painting Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. What struck me most was that the school was right there by the river. It’s kind of poetic to think about — maybe the exact spot where Fuyang High School stands today once appeared in that painting. History and the present intertwined just like that. I walked through the campus with my internet friend, even visiting the spot where she once confessed her feelings to someone.
After the school, we went to Xinsha Island, an alluvial island in the lower reaches of the Fuchun River. There were quite a few residents, plus rice paddies, lotus ponds, and fish ponds. We even had a meal on the island. The food was mediocre, but I picked up a few phrases in the local Xindeng dialect — though I’ve already forgotten all of them except how to say “money.”
Back to Tiantian — besides playing with him all day, we also took him out to eat. During the meal, I played with him, prepared food for him, coaxed him to eat this and that, and picked out all the chili bits from his bowl. Even the tiniest spice flake wouldn’t escape his attention — he’d spot it and call for help. When I went to get extra condiments, he insisted on coming along so I’d add stuff for him too. He’d share his little secrets with me, whispering “gossip” about other people in my ear. Ha.
My internet friend said these two days gave her the “illusion of having a boyfriend.” Who could blame her — I felt it too. Especially during the last activity of the day, when the staff thought we were “a family.” Regardless, these two days were truly unforgettable. Whether in Fuyang or Hangzhou, whatever we were doing — what I’ll remember most are the people I was with. It always sets my imagination running. So many times in parks, seeing parents with their kids, I’d wonder what their lives are like. So these two days kept making me feel like “a guy who spent the first day helping his wife run errands and the second day taking the kid out for the weekend.”
But looking back, everything from the start felt so natural yet so unreal — especially for someone as unconfident as me. I don’t know how far away that kind of life really is, or whether it’ll ever come at all. So I think I’ll treat these two days as a gift from the future — as if I borrowed a day from the life ahead of me.
What I love most about kids is their clear, simple eyes — you feel like you can see right to the bottom. And their curiosity — everything is so fascinating to them. I think I’ve still held onto my own curiosity, but it can’t compare to theirs. Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s kids’ world that’s too simple, or if we’ve made ourselves too complicated. But if I can’t even convince myself to live “simply,” how could I ever convince anyone else?