Simple Life

Yesterday, or the day before, marked two weeks that Jason, the kids, and I have been back in the US. We are here for an undetermined amount of time, waiting patiently (...sort of...) for our work Visas. We are living at my mother's house (who is in the process of packing to move in two weeks...) with nothing of our own. We are using her things, eating her food, driving her car. We homeless, feeling a little listless, and a lot pointless. It is hard to find inspiration in waiting. We have small tasks that we can work on each day - but nothing that actually creates momentum. All that we want each day is to receive that email that says our paperwork is on the way and that we will be returning to Japan soon. It is hard to sit here, in a holding pattern of sorts, just waiting to go back to living. Aside from not feeling any sense of accomplishment, there is a sense of slipping backward. We were gone only a month, but in that time a lot of adjusting happened. Lil had almost sto...

Our lives are what they are because of the choices that we make; and to a lesser extent the choices that those around us make. Occasionally when I am feeling a little romantic, or lazy even, I allow myself to subscribe to the thought of a master plan full of destiny and fate where our choices aren't as elemental in our lives. It all just happens like it's supposed to. Of course, I don't know which is the real direction that our lives follow, it could be a symbiotic relationship of both. We spent the weekend in Yakima with a few of our closest friends. It turns out that 2 days is not nearly enough time. When we left a month ago, we assumed it was for at least a year. We made a clean break and said our farewells. Going back was certainly bittersweet. We absolutely loved the weekend and our time with everyone, but now we are sad and mourning all over again. I'm not sure if there was a great lesson in any of this but either way, we went, we saw, and we drug our tir...

There is a city near us in Kanonji called Marugame. It is about a 40 minute drive on a good day, despite being relatively close. The roads on the island of Shikoku are a lot like Highway 99 at home, congested with businesses and traffic light after traffic light. It also doesn't help that the maximum speed limit is 50 km/hr. That's equivalent to about 35 mph. Anyway, Marugame is a great city, a lot larger than ours with everything you could possibly need. One of the cool features of the city is castle built up on a hill. It was started in 1587 and evolved over time. It has been preserved and is now a museum of sorts. Being one of only 12 wooden castles left standing is Japan, it is a big tourist draw. The castle sits high on a hill with stone walls protecting the hill. Inside the castle are little holes that guardians of the castle could open, slide out a gun, and shoot any intruders. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

We spent Lily's birthday as a family, not really doing much. One fun little detail - we went to her favorite beach to hang out for the evening and watch the sunset. We were all out in the water, waist deep for Jason and I, and a giant swarm of fish came at us. I know that fish swim in schools, not swarms, but this was certainly more of a swarm. These little fishling things that were only an inch or so long came swimming toward us. There had to be thousands of them. They were very active, jumping out of the water over and over. In hindsight, it was pretty cool. However, at the time I was having visions of tiny little Japanese Piranhas attacking, ninja style of course.

My bio-dad was a real peach. Fortunately, none of my faithful blog followers have had the opportunity to meet him. To call him bigoted or racist just doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Some of my earliest memories of him are the sound of his voice using derogatory terms for anyone that wasn't white and straight. I always knew he was wrong. I think my first defiant move was to decide to have "rainbow babies". I wanted a white baby, a black one, a brown one, a yellow one, pink, red, blue, it didn't matter. I just knew that the world was a beautiful place, and the colors of all the people made it so much richer and brighter. I'm not talking just about skin color, but color in general, color in the terms of people living their lives out loud, loving who they want to love and being who they want to be. Fast forward 20 some years and I still feel exactly the same way. Yes, I recognize that I have me some pasty white babies, but I promise you this, t...

Japan does parks to the extreme. We went to a park today that had an incredible play toy for the kids. The toys were huge. Jason kept commenting on the fact that if he were there as a kid, he'd never want to leave. His mom would have to bring him sustenance for his life at the park. Once the kids were settled on the play toy (Jaxon and Lily with friends Mia and Teryn) and the men were immersed in a game of see-who-can-be-the-most-impressive-football-thrower-and-catcher, Lindsey and I took off for a hike up the mountain. We found a trail and followed it. There were signs along the way, but of course they were in Kanji so we had no clue. The trail was pretty steep and rugged, a true hike. It was beautiful. Along the way we crossed streams, ducked away from massive spiderwebs (spiders included, black and yellow), and stopped every 5 minutes to gawk at something amazing. Later we took the kids and husbands on a mini-hike to check out some bridges, a waterfall, and a couple s...

We have survived our first typhoon/hurricane/weather event in Japan with no pain. I cannot say the same for Japanese beer. For starters, the typhoon. It was kind of great for us. We're in a fifth floor apartment and the wind and rain really got crazy up here. We had our front and back doors open and it was like a wind tunnel in our living room. Walking from the car to the apartment building we got drenched, in seconds. Really pretty cool. Unfortunately, there was flooding and damage to homes, injuries, and loss of life here in Japan. They say typhoon season is over now and that we should start to get some more fall-like weather. Can't wait! Now, about the beer. Jason teaches a few adult classes at a local business. One of the ladies was telling him about Japanese beer and which to try. Now, if you don't know this already, Jason is not a drinker. He likes beer, and will have one now and again, but he's not one to drink alone or have one because the day ends in y....

We're in a typhoon! It's really pretty cool. The wind is blowing like crazy and the rain hasn't stopped all day. I love the sounds of it! I realize there is some danger here, but, it seems minimal and the newness of it outshines any fear. This picture is of Miss Lily after we walked home in the rain after putting our car in a secure garage to protect it from possible flood damage. She's already dried off, but wanted to show you the wind blowing her hair. The funny thing is, we thought that was strong. Now, 6 hours later, that was nothing!

I had a pretty rotten day the other day - just one thing, then another. Despite sleep and the start of a new day, I was still pretty cantankerous. After work a (brave) friend took me and the kids to the beach. It was amazing, truly. Something about being the only people on the beach, floating in the warm water while the kids played and caught crabs, and being showered with warm rain just melted all the junk away. I left that little soak in a way better place. Reflection tells me that it was the amazing water, the privacy, the feeling like we were in our own little spot. However, it was also the company. This friend of mine is not new to me. As a matter of fact, we have known each other since 7th grade. We have never been close, having come from two worlds that didn't intersect much. But, here we are. We both laughed at the idea that out of everyone we each knew, the two of us were floating in a sea together in Japan. These pictures were taken on a different day, but at the same a...