Home for a visit…

Tomorrow I fly home to the ATL for a visit. I always feel a little ambivalent about these visits. On the one hand, I am excited to see my house, my family and… of course… my kitties. But on the other hand, I will miss my “home” here in Tokyo. And… to make it even more unsettling, my husband is not accompanying me on this trip. He will be here in Tokyo, fending for himself, and working, for the 2 1/2 weeks that I am gone.

We have talked about this before… that it is a weird situation to be “split” between two lives: our life here in Tokyo, and our life back in the US. Even after living here for 2 1/2 years, it has not gotten any easier.

Our daughter and her husband have been graciously living in our home, and taking care of our beloved pets. That is really a nice thing for us, to not have to lease out our home to strangers, and put our belongings into storage. Still… it is not always easy to go back for a visit and feel like a guest in your own home.

I have several reasons for going back for this visit… our youngest daughter is planning her wedding, and she has a Bridal Shower planned for this next weekend. Then, the following weekend, is the Bridesmaids trip (Bachelorette Party) at the beach. I have been invited to both.  Since all three of my daughters are involved in that trip, it will be a nice chance to spend time with my girls. Our family used to get together for an annual beach trip, but since we have been in Tokyo, it has been put on hold.

Also, I have various home maintenance projects to check on… we recently had a new deck put on the house, and I have not yet seen it. I also have to take my car — which has been sitting in the garage, oh so many months, and finally have it put into storage for the rest of our time in Tokyo. My daughter and her husband both have cars that they need to keep in the garage. I miss my car, but now when we come back for visits, we will just have to go pick it up at the auto storage center.

After all that, I plan to go visit with my oldest daughter’s family in Maryland… and see my favorite grandson, Emmett.

It will be a fun trip, but I always find myself stressing about going back. Stressing about all the little details. But, I know that those things are not important. This experience we are having in Tokyo, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. I don’t want to put a cloud over it by worrying about that other life… that other life that I will soon enough be back in the middle of.

Time flies. These next 18 months will be gone before we are ready. I love my home in the ATL, but right now… I love MY HOME in Japan.