Hi! It’s me! Lily!
And I love my bed! I love it love it love it! I mean, bedrolls on a tatami are nice, and there’s more comfortable than you’d think, but my bed! MINE!!! Hahaha!!!! I slept like a log last night!!! I mean I rolled around and smelled like hickory! Hahaha!!
So I said I have a lot to say, and I do!!! This might be one of my longer posts. I know some posts are short and some are long, but I say what I need to! It’s my diary! As a reactor I saw once says, “It’s MY SHOW!” Haha!!!
First of all, good news! Jack is coming over for a week with his family starting on the 12th!!! Yay!!! I can’t wait to see him and Grace!!! Grace wants to visit the big waterpark, and what Grace wants, Grace gets!!! I don’t mean she’s spoiled, but she’s so darn cute!!! Everyone loves her!!!
She loves chocolate and waterparks!!! Girl’s just like me, but little!!!
Anyway, so yesterday I was kind of sad to leave Japan. I mean, I loved it there! I loved meeting my ojiisan and obaasan and ojisan and obasan and Ai and Hiroshi! I was sad, but I felt I’d spent enough time in Japan for this trip, and I wanted to come home! I missed Dave and Sabby and Beth and even David! So I bowed to everyone, but gave Ai a hug. Like many Japanese, she’s not big on physical contact, but she didn’t want to let go and was crying! Awww!!! I made a friend, didn’t just find a cousin!!! Hiroshi just bowed deeply!
Ai is going to come over Christmas! Yay! You might ask why she hasn’t been to the US before! Well… let’s be honest, the family history with Emiko is a little complicated. I’m not sure it would have gone quite as well if I weren’t there, but while us girls were in bed we could hear them talking in the other room, so I guess they worked some stuff out. Yay!
Ai even hugged Liz! They made good friends too!!! So Ai’s coming to see both of us!!! Yay!!!
So anyway, the five of us packed into a train and headed to Narita airport! It was so cool watching all the buildings and stuff zoom by! But we made it there, got a couple of light snacks, and watched the hustle and bustle as the planes landed and took off.
Our flight was mostly uneventful. Unfortunately, there was a little turbulence, and that’s scary, but the pilots did a pretty good job of keeping that to a minimum. Yay!!! When we landed in LAX, we were soooo tired!! But then there was a connecting flight, and that was thankfully pretty uneventful too. Dave and Sabby and Liz’s parents were waiting for me and Liz at the airport!! Lucky Dave has a big car! I hugged Emiko and Aika and Mika and we went our separate ways – they went home and I went home with my family!!!
Liz’s parents hugged Liz! They missed her! Awww!!!
Even though we were tired, Liz was chittering and chattering all the way home about all the stuff she saw and did! She had such a good time! I’m so happy!!! She loved ookunoshima the best! All the bunnies!!! Liz’s father, of course, has been to Japan before, but usually for business, so they promised that someday soon they’d all go to Japan again! Liz’s mother wants to see the bunnies!! Aww!!!
So once we got home, Liz and her parents went back to her house, she needed a nap as much as I did, and they had some dinner waiting! Aww! I needed food!!! So I ate and told them all about the trip in between bites. Beth wants to see the bunnies too!!! David was jealous I got to go to Akihabara!!! But after food, I made it up to them with gifts!!! I got David a couple of games and gadgets that you can only find in Japan! He hugged me before his brain caught up to him!!! Then he tried to play it off as being suave, but gave it up and ran up to his room to try out the games!!! I know the way to his heart!!!
Beth was a bit harder to shop for, but I got her some Japanese makeup stuff, some of those animal ear headbands, and a couple of gadgets I thought she’d like too. She did!!! But Dave and Sabby were the most difficult. I got them genuine kimono-style bathrobes! They loved them!!! And everyone got a pile of kawaii souvenirs! Plushes! Figurines! Keychains! AKB48 posters for David!!!
Oh, and Marie was VERY HAPPY to see me. She didn’t leave me once, and was jumping up and down like a mad dog when I got in! I didn’t even put her in the kennel, I let her sleep with me. Aww.
And then I went to sleep. And, as I said, I slept like a log. And then I woke up, and here I am! I’m a bit out of practice on the running, but I went for a run, and now here I am, writing to you!
So that was the blow-by-blow. But how do I feel? After all, that’s why I write this diary in the first place. I feel… Happy and sad. I’m so glad I was able to take that trip, and connect more with Emiko, her (my) family, and my heritage. I didn’t even know my birth name a year ago, and now I have a whole other family too!!! I miss everyone! Ojiisan and Obaasan had the best stories! Ai was a good, if a bit mischievous, friend! Hiroshi was cute! But I’m happy to be back with my family too! Sabby gave me the biggest hug at the airport, and she was even crying a little! She missed me as much as I missed her! And isn’t that what family’s about?
And now, Jack will come to visit, and… and I’ve just got the best life ever!!! OMG!!!
But today I’m going to rest. No chores, no work, no school… just rest. The best vacations are the ones you have to rest from when you get home!!! Then tomorrow… well, tomorrow will be what tomorrow will be!!!
Thank you all for coming on the trip to Japan with me! I loved sharing it with you! When Ai, Liz, and I went places, you were there too! But you ate too much. Try not to eat so much next time? Hahahaha!!!!!
Love you all!!!! ❤
