home

I made it home safe and sound. It was a long trip, but I got here. I came home to happy, healthy, clean children, and a clean house.

I spent all morning with Lily. I gave her 100% of my undivided attention. She was a little bent out of shape, understandably but in the end she hugged me and said Mommy's home!

I spent the evening chaperoning Mandy's Sweet Sixteen birthday party. Jeff and Mandy made all the arrangements. We went bowling with some of her friends. Turns out if you go bowling from 7-9pm on a Saturday on a military base you are surrounded by cute young men. Mandy and her friends had a blast, my eyes were really opened to the fact that Mandy is (or will be) 16 on Monday. Having cute young men fall all over themselves to flirt with you really does make a birthday party sizzle. She invited me to bowl with her and her friends. I thought I was going to have to wait in the car or something, but she is a very delightful young woman and all the girls were very respectful and sweet. So that was fun.

My trip home was a whopping 28 hours, and the night before the trip home I only got 3 hours sleep (I was excited and worried). Still, I had trouble sleeping last night. Partly because I kept waking up with charlie horse cramps in my legs. That happened when I first arrived in America. I think it is all the hours in cramped spaces with no moving? Even though I am so tired I feel like I am in another dimension, I still am having trouble settling down enough to sleep. Hopefully tonight will be better.

One more flight and I am done with it. I have a month to prepare for the final journey out of here. I am thinking I am going to work on exercising a little more to improve my circulation. I so wish I could take a boat back. It would probably get me there faster. The flight from Atlanta to Tokyo was only 14 1/2 hours, the other 14 hours of the trip is crap. I had to take three trains. I had a reserved seat on each of the trains, but that would have meant waiting at the train station/airport for two hours before starting my journey. They will allow you to use your pre-bought ticket on an earlier train, but you don't get a seat. I chose the earlier train which meant I got home an 1 1/2 earlier but it also meant I had to stand up for 1 hour on the first train, and 4 hours on the second train, and 30 minutes on the last train. I was thinking it wouldn't be so bad since I had spent the past 20 hours sitting on airplanes and in waiting rooms, but it was not a lot of fun. But, I am home safe and sound with my dear family. They appear to have survived very nicely without me. Yet, they are all very happy to see me and I guess at the end of the day, I need them more than they need me. Except 10 days isn't years and years of doing it, but still they are all very competent. Jeff even says it was relaxing to not have to deal with work crap, I guess Lily and her issues is not as upsetting for Jeff as work crap.