The prodigal husband returns tonight after a week away. Yes, he ditched me to go to Okinawa, a tropical island south of Japan. Okay… maybe it was for work but I can’t say that I didn’t feel jilted. We thought about me going but he was working such long hours and I would be all alone… not like he didn’t leave me just like that here in a foreign country or anything. Right before he left, he was giving me emergency information in case I needed help while he was away. This I found incredibly humorous. The only person that knows where our house is located is also out of the country in the Philippines. If I needed help, I would call these other random acquaintances and what… tell them as I lay bleeding and unconscious the directions to my home? As a person who takes many precautions (yes, I am dripping with sarcasm), I didn’t mention this sooner so no one would rush to their local United Air counters, buy a $1,200 ticket, jump on a plane, fly 15 hours and do me in. Seriously, I do realize there is a need to be safe when writing about your life on the internet, but somehow I think it just may be a bit too much for anyone to go through that kind of hassle for little old me.
It’s remarkable how quickly people adjust to their situations. At the beginning of the week, I was out and about exploring a different part of the area and wanted so much to call someone and tell them all of the things I am seeing. Of course, since I only have one person I can call and ramble out nonsense (in this country, I mean – love my friends who ramble as much as I do back home but also can’t call you in the middle of the day as that is the middle of your night and I can just imagine the pleasant corollary I would receive) and he wasn’t around, I got pretty lonely and depressed. It made the country of Japan a whole lot bigger and me a whole lot smaller in a matter of seconds. Tuesday was spent with Atlanta, whose husband was also away with mine, and it made the day so much nicer and me not to feel so forlorn. Wednesday I have my class so it is generally an errand day and nothing seemed unusual. Thursday, I was totally at peace with being on my own and spent the day with Tony Soprano and doing things around the house. Then of course today, I needed to clean the house up, buy groceries, plan for dinner and start acting like a wife again. How quickly the week passed, and with it all of my emotion about being alone and a little scared.
The perks of this past week:
Sleeping in
Staying up late
Spending a whole day in my pj's
Peanut Butter M&Ms for breakfast – every day
Oreo’s and Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese for lunch
Chef Boyardee Pizza for dinner
Nutty Bars morning, noon and night (KH is a healthy eater mostly and would die if I ate all this crap in front of him) (Damn it was good)
Shopping and not having to sneak the bags in and hide them in the closet
Not washing dishes for a whole week!
No laundry for a week!
Listening to the IPod as loud as I want
Having complete clicker control
Living it up as a bachelor essentially, a very unhealthy one
The downside:
Things that went bump in the night (I searched closets looking for the Boogeyman for a half hour the first night)
Taking the trash out every stinking morning
Only having the scent of Kimono Hubby on his pillow to remind me that I am not alone in this world
While the downside looks like it is a much less significant list and that I prefer being alone and living like a guy, the meaning behind it is by far filled with more love than one can imagine. I’d even give up the Nutty Bars if he asked me to! (Just not the peanut butter M&Ms, God, please.) I’m so glad he comes home tonight.
‘Hope’ Is an Act of Resistance, Too
6 days ago
Posts
6 comments:
“Only having the scent of Kimono Hubby on his pillow to remind me that I am not alone in this world” This scent is worth more than ANYTHING else in the world...even peanut butter M&Ms.
Talking about M&Ms......I think I need some.:)))))
Karen; Stumbled on your site while killing a bit of time perusing blogs. We lived in Japan (1st wife & family) for a number of years, including a stretch in Zushi City. 1st I was there for about 8 years in the Navy at Atsugi & Yokosuka(USS Midway) and then an additional 12 as a civilial engineering consultant for an international company in Tokyo and Kyoto. When in the Navy I lived for a time in the old Nagai Heights near you and also at Yokohama in the old housing areas that are gone now. We used to shop in the same part of Yokohama you did. I loved Zushi City. Are you aware that the Emperor's summer palace is just to the south of you? Hope you enjoy the stay, I loved every minute I spent on Japanese soil.
Ah yeah! Look out Japan, there will be some wild monkey love happening in the Kimono household this evening! (Just be sure to let him get through the door before you jump him - the neighbors don't need to be seeing that crazy stuff!)
Seriously though, glad to hear that you made it through the week in one piece. We love it when the men in our lives go away for a few days but love it even more when they come home.
Mike - I know the Emperor's Palace is very near here but I'll be darned if I can figure out the direction. Yokohama and Tokyo are amazing but I definitely prefer the slower pace of Zushi. I'll take your advice though.
Lisa & Alex - I may or not be ready for him to go back. Kidding. Kind of.
Karen, if you look on a good map and find Zushi. Just to the east is the beginning of a small peninsula that forms the separation between Sagami Bay and Tokyo Bay. If you take the shore road on S. Bay side SE around the small peninsula, you'll come to a hard left turn a way down. Just after the turn on the R/H side you'll see a long wall with old gates. That's the summer palace. If you continue down that road you'll come to a rotary beside a JASDF base. Backtrack a bit watching to the right until you see a sign for a golf course. It goes to the old American course on the hilltops. On that road is a tower that overlooks the whole peninsula from the top. It used to be free years ago. Views are worth the adventure. Allow a whole day for side trips.
Karen, I was afraid I'd run out of space. From the tower I mentioned you can see Yokosuka on one side and Zushi on the other. The Nagai Hgts I referred to were on a little spur peninsula into Sagami Bay beyond the traffic circle. Even though I was working on the bases then in the cities, we always lived in places like Zushi, or even smaller villages. Never lived on the major bases, closest was Yokohama housing. The ones that're gone now. Never lived in the cities full-time. I'd stay there weekday nights & commute home to village near Mt Fuji weekends.
Post a Comment