Hello All,
Yes, yes, I am bowing down, groveling before you for my terrible lack of writing. But I have an excellent reason why I have not been writing.
Bob's mom, Donna, arrived on October 10th, and is staying until October 29th.
And really, it would be rude of me to disappear into my writing den/litter box micro-cube of a hidey-hole to pound away on a keyboard. I wouldn't want to be rude.
It has been fantastic having Donna visit. I encourage you to never underestimate the subtle and wondrous joys of having a whole new adult to talk to. A fresh perspective. Unexpected answers to my same old questions.
Surprisingly, she has been blissfully content to just hang out amid our madness.
Of course, when she arrived she was breaking out in a multitude of bruises, thanks to an early morning lightbulb-changing tumble off a ladder right before she left home to start the trek here. So we got to watch her rest up from that horrific excitement and nurse her bruises.
Then as the bruises started to fade she caught a wee cold. So she was again very content to relax, sip tea, pop indecipherable cold medicine and observe the dubious joys of teenage sibling squabbles.
But now she is feeling better, and we have had our chance to drag her around Kyoto. Aya and Patrick toted her off to join them at their Japanese class last Friday. Bob took her to the bamboo forest and gardens in Arashiyama, and while they didn't quite make it to the top of the mountain to see the famed monkeys, they did ride in a rickshaw--what Donna evaluated as "the only way to see things".
And tomorrow I will be taking her to see one of the larger historic festivals in Kyoto, the Jidai Matsuri, where thousands of people dress in traditional Japanese costumes spanning over 1000 years and parade from the Imperial Palace to the Heian Shrine.
Yet, while Donna seems happy to see the various delights of Kyoto, she seems even more delighted to stroll around our tiny sleepy neighborhood, to help the kids with their homework, and to try her hand at making friends with our exceedingly shy ragdoll cat, Raku.
I suppose it is a matter of perspective.
Some people travel to escape.
Some people travel to explore.
And still others travel to reconnect.
Perhaps this last is Donna's real reason for flying thousands of miles. So that she can curl up with Aya under a blanket upon our couch and watch scary movies, or stroll to the store with Patrick on a warm Fall evening.
And perhaps this is the best reason of all.
Until next time....
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