When we left the apartment, the front desk staff said "We will miss your son so much. And you, too, of course." I've heard this a lot the last few months. I don't take it personally, as I think my son is the brightest ray of sunshine I've ever come across. Throughout this whole adventure, he has (for the most part) been so optimistic and cheerful. It has been hard leaving all his friends and the only home he has ever known. Today we were reading a story about a little girl that traveled from her home in Africa to visit her grandmother in Canada. Suddenly my son started crying that he missed his friends so much. After a few minutes, he smiled and said "But I have you and Otousan and that makes me happy." (Otousan is father in Japanese.) His positive attitude is so inspiring. No wonder people miss him so much.
On our way to the new house, we dropped my husband off at the Ward office in the Civic Center to register with the city and do some other errands. My son and I went to the house and unpacked a bit. We then went to meet my husband for lunch. As we headed to the street, we saw a praying mantis on a car. I don't think I've ever seen one outside of a zoo before. It was so neat to look at as it looked at us. Earlier, my husband saw a beautiful butterfly. It's like we're being welcomed by the insect world. As long as they greet us from outside our home, I'm more that happy to see them all - except for the horrid mosquitoes that have been eating all three of us nonstop. They have been so vicious that I fear they are going to leave scars on all of us. Even when we spray ourselves with insect repellant, they find where we didn't spray and go to town. I now regret not buying the insect repellant soap!
During lunch, my husband said he had gone up to the 4th floor of the Civic Center to the Jidokan, a recreation center for kids, and registered us. Since our appliances weren't scheduled to be delivered for a couple hours, my son and I headed to the Jidokan to play. It was rather old and well loved, but my son immediately lit up and started to play. He found a little girl that he attached himself to and they played dolls, hair dressers, ice cream shop, and many other things. I had noticed that she was wearing a tutu and fairy wings. After noticing a few other kids were in costumes as well, I asked the little girl's mom where the costumes were. Between her broken English and my broken Japanese, we were able to communicate. She took me to the front desk and showed me how to check out costumes! My son was a pirate for the rest of the play time. He loves playing dress up and was so very happy to be able to do it. It has been quite the bone of contention that his costume box was loaded onto the ship and not in our suitcases!
Shortly before our appliances were scheduled to arrive, we left and headed home. On our way my husband called and said the delivery guys were early. So, by the time we arrived home, the fridge was already installed, the stove was being installed, and the washing machine was getting set up to go inside the house. It was such a joy to see!
We then headed out to buy shelves and go out to dinner (all our dishes are on the boat... I'll be buying paper plates tomorrow...). Three very tired people returned home after our errands. It was a long day. Now we all get to sleep on the floor and my husband gets to find out what his new commute will be like in the morning. And with those two thoughts in my head, I simply think like my son does and say "We have each other. We're having an adventure. And that right there makes me happy."
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