1000 paper cranes

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

This picture was taken in Hiroshima's absolutely breathtaking Peace Park.
The park is lovely: flat, covered in trees and spots to sit, beautiful monuments, and full of kids ALL the time. Which is adorable, because Japanese schoolchildren are SO much better behaved than Canadian ones!
It's located directly around the epicenter where the atomic bomb was dropped, which meant we also got to see the atomic dome - the only building to survive the bombing (it's quite the sight to see - melted bricks and metal scaffolding really make you sit back and think)

All of the monuments are dedicated to peace. Two of the ones that Kim and I found on our trek through the park are for children who were injured or died because of the bombing.
One is an angel, with doves flying above her head, and the other is a bell with a golden paper crane hanging from it.
This picture was taken at the Angel statue, where these thousands (and I kid you not when I say thousands) of cranes were hanging from hooks.
It's a japanese myth: as the story goes, complete 1000 paper cranes and your wish will come true.

Kids make paper cranes in strings of 1000 and bring them to the park. They're in memory of a little girl named Sadako, who died of leukemia at the age of 11 not long after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. When she found out she was sick she completed 1000 paper cranes in hopes she would get better.

Needless to say, Kim and I were teary-eyed while we wandered around.
The real kicker (that made us have to go find something to dry our eyes after a whopping round of crying) was when the classes of grade schoolers brought their cranes to the other statue - the one dedicated to Sadako herself, and any other children killed in war. Not only do they leave their cranes at the statue, but they either sing or play music.
Talk about leaking.
Mom can be proud knowing she's passed on the leaky gene to me, too.