We took Scott to the airport almost two weeks ago. We drove over to his hometown, and spent some time with both his parents and his sister Sara and her fiancée Chance. It was a good visit for all, and good for the girls to get to spend some time with the Garrison side of their family. On Thursday, we took Scott to the airport- we were all very sad, but knew that the decision had been made and there was no going back. I had just pulled into his Mom's driveway (about 25 min from the airport), and looked down to see his PHONE sitting there in the console. I tried to rush back, but there was no way I was going to make it, so I went directly to the Post Office and shipped it back to Japan. Not a great way for Scott to start out his return back to Japan alone.
We spent one more week at the Residence Inn, with the girls starting school at Haverhill that week as well. The start of school went MUCH better than I had expected- Maya slipped right back in with her friends from before (a few of them are in her class, so that made it a LOT easier for her to adjust). Hanna, poor thing, started her 4th school in two years but she did incredible. First off, Hanna just turned 5 this January, so she is not technically old enough for Kindergarten. However, her international school in Japan is equivalent to Kindergarten in the States, and she went all day, every day, whereas Portage only has 1/2 day every day. I contacted the principal and he was fine with her going into Vicki Hessen's Kindergarten class. The first day I dropped her off and she clung to me so hard, and with a bit of fear in her face, she walked to her chair and sat down. She did not cry, pitch a fit or have any major issues...and that day when I picked her up she declared it as "the best day EVER". I was so thrilled and relieved that both had a great first week in school.
We got into our Apartment, Saddle Creek Apartments, on Good Friday (the 22nd of April). It is much better than the hotel, and allows us a TON more room and space. The girls are sharing a room, but have their own beds. We also have received an unbelievable amount of support from our friends- they have basically provided us with all the things the "fully furnished" apartment didn't include- extra towels and bedding, kitchen towels, pots, pans, cutting boards, cake pans....and the most important thing- TOYS. I want everyone who has reached out and helped us to know how much I appreciate your help, and how grateful we all are to have you as friends- it makes coming back in this situation so much easier and less stressful. Thank you all.
It has been raining like crazy, and I am very ready to be done with it and get on to something nicer. I still haven't taken the time to go get more clothes, so I am still alternating between two pair of pants and a few shirts! So, please, if you see me and I look like a rag doll...excuse it! The girls are as well, getting tired of wearing the same clothes over and over...but, what can you do? At least we have a reason, right?
I was able to rejoin my tennis team at the Portage YMCA, and I will tell you, it has been fantastic. I miss playing and the friendships like crazy, so that part has been one silver lining in this situation. I was also able to get Maya set up to make her First Reconciliation and First Communion at St. Catherine's. St. Catherine's has been completely understanding and wonderful, and we are really looking forward watching her go through the process. Unfortunately, Scott will not be able to be here for her First Communion, but he is bringing the video camera home when he comes back on Friday for a week, so that I can tape it for him. On that note, it is Golden Week in Japan starting Friday. Golden week is a week long holiday- basically the Japanese gov't forcing people to take some vacation (Japanese struggle with taking vacation)- so Scott did not have to work. We are looking forward to seeing him and being together as a family!
I just booked tickets to return to Japan on June 5th. The girls desperately want to return to finish the school years with their classes in Japan, and I want to go back to say goodbye to the many friends that are no longer coming back next year- it will be a sad week, but I will feel much better getting to see them in person and not do it through email. We will then stay there until our original tickets to come home on June 18th. I think that will be so good for us to be "normal" and be a family again in Japan- I think it will make it alot easier to return in the fall and get going again. Finally, I found out that most likely, my good friend Kim and her family are now going to be returning to Japan in the fall (originally, they had said they were not coming back)- I am SO excited. That piece of news was a really good one!
Easter
Easter here was really nice. The girls and I attended church- it was the first Easter mass I have been to without Scott in 13 years, and was actually more difficult to go to than I thought it would be. Our friends and neighbors, Mike, Amy and Emma Filary invited us over to have dinner and an egg hunt with their family and we had a wonderful time. The food was delicious, the company fantsstic and the weather even managed to turn itself around- a warmer, partly sunny day! We ended up staying in our neighborhood until 7:30pm, with the girls playing with Emma, as well as the Sobell girls and the Van Winkle kiddos. We ended the night by coming home and Skyping with Maya's 2nd grade class at ASIJ- it was so nice. The kids were as excited to see Maya as she was to see them. It did however, make her very sad, and she struggled to go to school the next day (had a really hard time at drop off). We will be skyping with her class again this weekend and I think it won't be as difficult to go back, now that she will have 2 weeks under her belt.
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