Homeward Bound

I don't really know where to begin.  I guess to say that we are coming (or going) home.  Jason, the kids, and I are leaving Japan and moving back to the states next month.  We make this move with mixed emotions.  The idea of returning to the states for a visit came up a couple of weeks ago when we found out my Dad was sick, but in the last few days as we looked at our options, it became clear that returning for good is our best choice at the moment.

Leaving Japan isn't really going to be too hard for us, as Tokyo hasn't grown into home for us yet.  Were we still in Utazu with our "family" there, it would be much harder. So, leaving won't be hard, but, returning, that will suck (such a poetic word choice, I know.  It just happens to fit perfectly...).

We've liked Japan, we've liked living here.  We've had an amazing experience that we wouldn't trade.  There are some thing we would have done differently if we'd known differently, but I suppose that is all part of the experience.  As a family we've grown closer - Lily and Jaxon are best friends (just don't tell anyone).  So many great things have come from our time here, but, it is time that we return to life as we once knew it - only different.

The logistics of returning will be tough - we'll be like young kids just starting out with nothing to our names - except bills.  Fortunately we have great friends and family that are there to help and have already committed themselves to our cause.  We'll need to find jobs, right away, a place to live (after we camp and Mom-in-law's for a bit), and the kids will need to get into school.  We have a plan in place for those things, but a very fluid plan it is as we have no idea when and where jobs will come from.  Like a good friend said to me on the phone the other day - we are taking a huge leap of faith, but, Jason and I are well versed in those and we will be okay.

The logistics aren't the toughest part to returning home - the emotions are.  We are excited to be able to return to the states and be near our friends and family again - we've missed them so much and have probably developed a new level of appreciation for them.  The tough part - one of them - is remembering why we did all this in the first place and honoring that in our re-newed lives.  We didn't do this for nothing - we wanted to change the way that we lived our lives and the way that the kids saw the world.  We wanted to simplify, cut back, live on less.  We've done all that here and want very much to keep that up when we get back.  There is also the sense of going back home.  For some that would be a wonderful feeling - and it is for me too, but it is also difficult.  It feels like a step back, like when you are playing Sorry and you've just rounded a corner only to get sent back home to your starting place.  You just get started and it's over before you know it.  Then there's the jetlag...not looking forward to that at all...

But, we did it.  We had a plan to leave our comfortable lives one day, push ourselves, challenge our kids, and we did all that.  Our plan was never to return home this quickly, we wanted to be out in the big, wide world much longer.  However, it wasn't meant to be.  At least, not right now. Maybe one day, when the kids go off to college...

So, that's kind of it.  We are coming home.


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