From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

This is Sunday but a nice one. The only people who came were Uncle Julius and Aunt Josie and they brought me the most beautiful Japanese kimono. It has a big sash around my waist and it is called an Obi and Japanese women carry their babies in it somehow. Ito showed me how little Japanese girls bow to their parents but I can’t do it and every time I try, I fall on my face.

One of the things I enjoyed about growing up in San Francisco was being surrounded by and exposed to people of different backgrounds and cultures. Hilda grew up in a very different era, in a city less embracing of “the other.” She is sometimes afraid of people who look different from her, but she is encouraged to see everyone as equal and as fellow human beings (see February 12 and March 7 entries). Unfortunately, humanity still has a lot to learn.