A Smile

We finished our packout today, and it was painless. The best moment was sitting on our patio, drinking tea, packers packing, my honeybun playing guitar, and the Mule's class coincidently on a walkabout calling "Mule-chan no Papa!" I'm going to miss Japan, but, oh, I was so happy to have my husband home and to think of seeing more of him! He had two days of liberty for the move though he went to the office on both days for various reasons. Still, it was strange to have him around, breakfast, check; lunch, check; dinner, check. I can't fathom having him home all of the time for just dinner let alone breakfast and dinner. It is so weird to see him for more than an hour late a night. It reminded me of when we dated or at least didn't have kiddos, we sat on the patio, sipped tea, and played/listened to tunes.

"Mule-chan no Papa!" playing tunes

His repertoire has shrunk from disuse, but it is all still there, lurking. He reminded me that we had once agreed that he could get a Martin when he retired. Not yet, we blew our wad on a house remodal which looks pretty awesome by the way. We haven't seen it, the remodeled house, but I hear a few folks in the neighborhood have happily queued up for a tour. Our aim in life is to be of help to others between nine to five, and then to spend time on patios playing guitar (him) and chilling (me) while living in our new old abode. He might have to play the Takemine a bit longer, but we'll get there. Isn't it interesting how we go from saving the world to twenty years later, saving ourselves?


The movers got some heat while I was on the onigiri run at lunch. At day's end, there was paperwork to sign and the opportunity to ask questions. I asked the English speaking mover about the obasan consult. He grinned. He said, "It wasn't your neighbor. She was from Tokyo. She wanted us to move the truck so she could park her car. She was a realtor or something." My husband reported that she had spent a good twenty minutes giving the movers an earful. Thing was, as soon as she said she was from Tokyo, we all dismissed her. She has no weight in this neighborhood. They didn't move the truck. He did say, "Your stuff is heavy." I replied, "Gomenasai I'm sorry." He smiled and said, "It's good for us, we make a lot of money." Hands down, best Navy move ever. The truck by the way was parked on the street in front of our house because the movers were loading our heavy stuff into their truck. City slickers (＾ｰ^)ノ think only they count.

Moving Day

Most impressive move was from Bahrain. Pretty much every stateside move sucked. Americans need to respect work as work and get off of their high horse that someday they are going to be something better. You are what you do today, crappy job or not, let me see your humanity and respect your work as yourself.


My husband was waylaid at the office today, attending to someone else's sloppy details. Seriously, who wants to work with someone who can't make an effort to do their job? I'd love to skip dinner just about any night of the week, but there are four eyes with hungry mouths on me. I show up, I make the grub, and tonight I thought, it's good to do it with grace. The Japanese mover earned my kudos because everytime I asked him something, he smiled and then answered my question. What a brilliant, effective technique, a genuine smile.


Then as the sun set, the Mule and I went to see the hotaru fireflies. We heard they were here. Neighbors were trolling as well. There are a few. Mada not yet but soon I think we will see more of their brief summer lights amongst the lillies. Children in their pajamas, giddy to be out in the evening running alongside a creek with yellow lillies along the bank in bloom, and fireflies slowly blinking their golden white light in the dark.


Smile and maybe someone will smile back at you or at least be left so startled by it that they will ponder it later. We each give a gift of ourselves every interaction, every day. Be the mover that smiles.

We finished our packout today, and it was painless. The best moment was sitting on our patio, drinking tea, packers packing, my honeybun playing guitar, and the Mule's class coincidently on a walkabout calling "Mule-chan no Papa!" I'm going to miss Japan, but, oh, I was so happy to have my husband home and to think of seeing more of him! He had two days of liberty for the move though he went to the office on both days for various reasons. Still, it was strange to have him around, breakfast, check; lunch, check; dinner, check. I can't fathom having him home all of the time for just dinner let alone breakfast and dinner. It is so weird to see him for more than an hour late a night. It reminded me of when we dated or at least didn't have kiddos, we sat on the patio, sipped tea, and played/listened to tunes.

"Mule-chan no Papa!" playing tunes

His repertoire has shrunk from disuse, but it is all still there, lurking. He reminded me that we had once agreed that he could get a Martin when he retired. Not yet, we blew our wad on a house remodal which looks pretty awesome by the way. We haven't seen it, the remodeled house, but I hear a few folks in the neighborhood have happily queued up for a tour. Our aim in life is to be of help to others between nine to five, and then to spend time on patios playing guitar (him) and chilling (me) while living in our new old abode. He might have to play the Takemine a bit longer, but we'll get there. Isn't it interesting how we go from saving the world to twenty years later, saving ourselves?


The movers got some heat while I was on the onigiri run at lunch. At day's end, there was paperwork to sign and the opportunity to ask questions. I asked the English speaking mover about the obasan consult. He grinned. He said, "It wasn't your neighbor. She was from Tokyo. She wanted us to move the truck so she could park her car. She was a realtor or something." My husband reported that she had spent a good twenty minutes giving the movers an earful. Thing was, as soon as she said she was from Tokyo, we all dismissed her. She has no weight in this neighborhood. They didn't move the truck. He did say, "Your stuff is heavy." I replied, "Gomenasai I'm sorry." He smiled and said, "It's good for us, we make a lot of money." Hands down, best Navy move ever. The truck by the way was parked on the street in front of our house because the movers were loading our heavy stuff into their truck. City slickers (＾ｰ^)ノ think only they count.

Moving Day

Most impressive move was from Bahrain. Pretty much every stateside move sucked. Americans need to respect work as work and get off of their high horse that someday they are going to be something better. You are what you do today, crappy job or not, let me see your humanity and respect your work as yourself.


My husband was waylaid at the office today, attending to someone else's sloppy details. Seriously, who wants to work with someone who can't make an effort to do their job? I'd love to skip dinner just about any night of the week, but there are four eyes with hungry mouths on me. I show up, I make the grub, and tonight I thought, it's good to do it with grace. The Japanese mover earned my kudos because everytime I asked him something, he smiled and then answered my question. What a brilliant, effective technique, a genuine smile.


Then as the sun set, the Mule and I went to see the hotaru fireflies. We heard they were here. Neighbors were trolling as well. There are a few. Mada not yet but soon I think we will see more of their brief summer lights amongst the lillies. Children in their pajamas, giddy to be out in the evening running alongside a creek with yellow lillies along the bank in bloom, and fireflies slowly blinking their golden white light in the dark.


Smile and maybe someone will smile back at you or at least be left so startled by it that they will ponder it later. We each give a gift of ourselves every interaction, every day. Be the mover that smiles.