Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

by Mitch Albom

They say a child’s eyes are fully formed around age three, and that is why they appear so large on the face. Or maybe those years are just so full of wonder, the child can’t help it.

And that, Chika, was the beginning of providence moving our lives together, or the continuance of it, I should say, since the Lord doesn’t get ideas partway through a life.

There are many kinds of selfishness in this world, but the most selfish is hoarding

time, because none of us know how much we have, and it is an affront to God to assume there will be more.

It began, as many good things do, with a coincidence.

land of high mountains” is the aboriginal meaning of the word Haiti).

But they smiled and led me forward, and I realize now they were walking me into their world and, in time, into yours.

The most precious thing you can give someone is your time, Chika, because you can never get it back. When you don’t think about getting it back, you’ve given it in love. I learned that from you.

What we carry defines who we are. And the effort we make is our legacy.