Hello Summer

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could find myself in a place that feels so good.  I am falling in love with Tokyo and I have only begun to brush the surface of what it has to offer.

I LOVE:

The peacefulness

The thoughtfulness

The attention to detail

The kindness

The design

The fashion

The quiet

The safety

The order

The people

The nature

The architecture

The food

The food

The food

I love how we now have a fruit & veggie guy and a beloved bakery and our favorite places for sushi & yakatori.  I love how strangers quickly feel like family and how often you get to hang with them.  I love how you get on your bike on a Saturday morning and you never know where the day is going to take you as you bump into festivals and food stands and boutiques.  I love that I can feel so insanely safe.  I love that I get this moment in time to be a mom to my boys.  And I love that for the first time since I was 20, summer gets to really feel like summer.

In one week we start our summer vacation. (I wasn’t planning this trip when we arrived, but we quickly learned it is the expat thing to do, so we are going to take advantage too.)  We are going to spend a week in Cape Cod with friends, a week at Steve’s family’s house in Western Mass, two weeks at my parents in Chapel Hill and then 3 weeks in London with my sister.  What a wild blessing to be able to travel like that.  But also, weirdly, I’m not ready to leave Japan.  A friend told me it’s actually nice because when you come back, you feel like you are coming home.  I guess that is what I have to make sense of.  We aren’t leaving.  Just pressing pause for a minute.  We tested the waters.  They are so very inviting.  And I can’t wait to dive back in, head first, when we return this Fall.  

But for now, Hello Summer!