I'm just back from 2 and a half weeks in the U.S and as usual had a fantastic time. It was a beautiful time of year to be back...everything literally bloomed while I was there. Check out the snaps from one of my favorite places in the world...the front porch at Dad & Paige's. First picture taken the day after I arrived and the second one the day before I left.
It's amazing how quickly it all went green and leafy. It wasn't until recently that I have come to appreciate how pretty southeastern PA is especially in the spring and fall. When you start taking pictures of your home like a tourist, it sort of sinks in! We had a great time...a very exciting baseball game with 2 grand slams, an all-time low golf score for me, Birchrunville Cafe for Paige's birthday, Cezanne at the Philadelphia Art Museum with Uncle Paul and Jo, Matt and Sarah's wedding (beautiful bride, handsome groom, great party), lots of Grandpa time as he recuperated from his fall, Mother's Day, shopping, more golf and Dad's hole in one. Wow, no wonder I come back to Tokyo and need to nap! It really was a fantastic trip. I'm grateful that I could take the time from work and Asia to be home for so long. I am really lucky.
And so it starts...I tend to get very sappy when life changes occur and this one looks like it's going to be no different! I guess it's nice that I can take a minute to appreciate what I have and be thankful for it. It does cause awkward moments (i.e. bursting into tears leaving DE after the wedding weekend) but what can I say...I am lucky and I love my family who love me and don't forget me while I'm over here!
Now that I am back, the countdown has started and I realized, with some panic on the plane yesterday, that I really don't have that much time left in Tokyo. Like exactly 3 weeks. There is not really much more that I want to see and do. I would have liked to have gotten to Kyushu and Okinawa and northern Honshu while I was here but I saw a lot of Japan and had some really great trips/weekends away. A final girls onsen weekend would have nice but will be a good reason to come back. I'm more concerned about having time to pack up my life. It certainly seems less daunting than moving out here. Probably because I only have to worry about what's actually here in my apartment instead of when I moved out here. My stuff was all over between Mom's and Dad & Paige's (who were not yet in the house so some in the apartment, some at the house). Add the fact that I hadn't worked in almost 2 years and had to pull that part of my life together as well, this seems like moving next door! I do need to do a good sweep of the apartment and get rid of stuff I don't need or use because getting rid of stuff is such a pain in the neck here. You need to buy special stickers to put on non-standard garbage items (i.e. clothes, appliances, etc.) and schedule their removal...but I won't get into complaining about Japan...yet! (I am preparing myself for this move to take every last ounce of patience I may have left...which wasn't that much to start with!) I'll be in a corporate apartment for the first month when I get there so need to pull out enough stuff for that month while the rest comes over on a slow boat to China. I think that's when I realized I needed to get a bit organized...the fact that I am going to be living out of a suitcase for a month. Again, when I moved over here, I had been living out of a suitcase for about a year so it was no big deal. Now, I've been all settled and have made my home here. Oh yes...funny how a place that I am so ready to be moving on from is still going to tug at my heartstrings!
So, I'll get moving on everything when the packers come on Monday to assess how much stuff I have. Tomorrow is my birthday so I will probably not make myself do anything more strenuous other than going to brunch and drinking champagne to celebrate the start of my 35th year. The packers will come back on the 4th of June to pack up my Tokyo life and I'll be on a plane to Hong Kong two days later ready for the adventure to continue! Stay tuned...
