Yesterday the boys dragged out some memories. Today I'll drag one out for you. Tonight friends/colleagues are coming to dinner (Lord willing). It set me thinking to the first time we had a meal with these friends and it was Christmas Day, only a couple of weeks after we first arrived in Japan. The top photo is a photo of the occasion.
In the top photo, can you see the two kids in high chairs? They are our eldest son and our friends' youngest boy. They are now in the same class at CAJ.Tonight they won't be sitting in high chairs!
In the bottom photo our eldest is blowing out the candles on his cake (long story about the cake, ask David one time!). Next to the birthday boys is the same friend who is in the high chair above.
An aside is that I'd forgotten we had an Australian visitor that first Christmas. Helen is the second from the left in the top photo. She and her family are still our good friends.
I think of people in Australia who say to us (explicitly or implicitly) that we should think about "settling down". And I think of all the memories we've encountered this weekend. Do we really seem that unsettled? Maybe to people who don't see how our life in Japan has progressed, who don't realise that we've got "long-term" friends here now too. To people who don't realise that our lives here has really become the "norm" for us and our kids. A life that is full of enjoyable experiences, of memories, of struggles, and triumphs. Of work, school, and holidays. Of the normal routines of life.
We're settled, regardless of what people think. And this evening we're going to enjoy the time with our friends, friends we've known for more than ten years.
2 comments:
Well said Wendy. 10 years in one country is definitely settled. And those who think otherwise should think about life in Australia a little longer. Yes, there are some families who live in the same house, and their kids all go to the same school, and have the same job for 10 years or more, but there are a lot of people who don't do that, even in Australia.
We have friends and relatives in the US who ask us, "When are you coming home?" rather frequently.
I am home. My citizenship may be over there, but I've lived here much, much longer.
I have one relative in particular who is constantly on my parents' case (and now mine, too) about going "home." When I was visiting them for a few days this past month I made a comment about my 2.5 months old son not crying as much as he did before we left for our US visit. The relative said, "Well, of course he's doing better. He's on his home turf now."
...Those two weeks we spent in the US were the only time he's ever been there, since he was born in Japan. And he'll be living in Japan for a good while yet.
Some people just don't get it.
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