Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
And it was so hot today!!! AWWWW!!!!!
But… stuff to talk about first.
We went to bed last night, and after a little bit, I felt someone burying her head in my chest and I heard sniffles. I looked down and there was Crystal, crying quietly. I guess she didn’t want to wake everyone else up, but she was… she was really crying. Hard.
Poor Crystal.
So of course I just put my arms around her and let her cry. I think I whispered soothing things but it didn’t matter what I said, it just made her cry harder.
It took a while for her to get it all out.
I’m glad I have a big enough chest to be buried in…
Finally her breathing slowed and she went to sleep. But I didn’t for a little bit. Sometimes it’s hard for me to think about what people go through in this life. Some people just seem to have a charmed life, like… Rebecca, maybe. But I didn’t, and Crystal really didn’t. And sometimes… sometimes it shows.
When we woke up, she just looked at me, whispered “thanks”, and went off to the bathroom.
She’s my sister! If I can’t let her cry in my chest, what kind of sister am I???
Everyone in the room knew what happened to Crystal though, so no one thought badly. I don’t know how Rebecca and friends would have responded. I mean they seem fine, but… that was a private moment between us. It’s Crystal’s story to tell, I guess.
Though she didn’t mind me posting it here, so… I guess.
I only post things here that no one minds me posting. Sometimes I’m surprised at what I can post, but… I guess my friends trust me.
I guess my sisters trust me.
Even Jack doesn’t mind the subscriber posts. I… think he’s proud. haha!!!
Anyway.
Oh, specaking of Jack, he’s doing fine. We’re chatting every night, and I forgot to mention we had a date before I left. He gave me some chocolate for the road. I gave him… something else… for the road. Blush!!!
So today after we all did our bathroom and get ready stuff, we all met up in the hotel lobby and decided that since today’s high was going to be 102 we weren’t going to do a lot of walking. It’s supposed to cool down a bit after today, but today… that’s just too much. But what can we do in Japan that’s mostly indoors?
Actually, I suggested we go down to Enoshima. It’s an island, it’s not supposed to get higher than 88, and.. there was very little argument. Haha!!! Ai and Hiroshi came down to go with us.
So we went to Enoshima.
We did a lot of the same stuff we did last year, just with more of us. We walked around, visited the shrine (Emiko and I put ema on the prayer wall and did the bowing and clapping) and everyone else was pretty respectful. I had to put the fear of kami into David, though. I told him that if he wasn’t respectful the Oni would get him, and then I showed him a picture of an Oni. He didn’t believe me… .but he was respectful and listened to what we told him.
He did mention that it was really peaceful.
Crystal asked about the Ema and bought one, and after some thought wrote a prayer on it and imitated my bowing and clapping. Generally we don’t read other peoples’ Emas, so maybe I’ll ask her what she wrote sometime. Britni, of all people, wrote an Ema too. I didn’t look. Yu didn’t, but she was watching everything intently.
It turns out there’s surfing in Enoshima! Chelsi was really happy!!! So we found a place that would rent her a surfboard and us some beach towels, and while she surfed we just changed into our swimsuits (I asked Rebecca to be a teensy bit more modest, haha) and lounged around on the beach while Chelsi caught some waves. She’s really good!!! Some Japanese guys were watching her really intently, haha!!! I think some girls too!!!
I saw one guy get a headslap from his girlfriend! Hahaa!!! She is really tall and blond and pretty.. and.. ummm… fills out a swimsuit. More than I do.
We also played a little in the water. It was pretty fun. All the adults just sat on a towel and soaked up the sun and chatted, and all of us girls (and David and Hiroshi) just squealed and splashed each other. Not quite a waterpark but good enough.
When we all changed into our swimsuits though, I think both Hiroshi and David’s heads exploded! Haha!!!
So anyway, after a couple of hours, we went to the Onsen (Rebecca and her friends are not used to public nudity, haha), we got some food at one of the stands, and took the train back to Asakusa.
It was a pretty fun day, and was really hot when we got back to Tokyo.
Sabby thinks Japan is a beautiful country. I agree with her, of course.
Maybe tomorrow we’ll visit Akihabara.
I’m glad Chelsi got a chance to surf. She was really looking forward to that. We got some pictures and video of her and they went right on her Instagram, and all of her followers were way jealous!!! I mean, surfing in Japan!!!
We’re about to go back to sleep. I hope Crystal’s okay tonight.
Oh, one “administrative” note – I’m using the dates that would be in Central Texas. Timezones are hard, especially when you’re 12 hours ahead.