Departure remembered

Yes, it has taken me until today - our 2nd full day here in Tokyo - to sit down and post my first entry.  Our final days in the U.S., spent packing up our home in Maplewood and saying goodbye to friends and family, were choked with the sadness of mourning.   As our belongings were boxed and loaded - bound for two years of lonely storage, my sense of rootedness vanished. There is a reason they are called "belongings".  They are the items that allow you to feel that you belong somewhere.  And without them, I was adrift.

Little by little, our house was emptied.  Max, Cherry and I ate our last lunch together "picnic style" on a flattened piece of cardboard in our empty spare bedroom.  Max, standing confused in his empty room, pointing to a spot on the wall, his big brown eyes asking me "where is my butterfly?"  These and other moments broke my heart.

In New York, where we spent our final three days, the mood was a bit more upbeat, as we saw friends and family in back-to-back blocks of time.  Still, I could not shake the sadness.

Rising on Monday morning, February 4th, I set my mind on auto-pilot as we gathered our bags and boarded a van to Newark airport.  Just keeping Max, Rich and myself and our carry on items together took enough energy to keep my mind off the dreaded 13 hour flight ahead of us.

In retrospect, the dreaded flight passed relatively smoothly.  While Max slept minimally and I did not sleep at all, he was mostly manageable.  We spent a fair amount of time on the floor doing puzzles, watching DVDs and peeling and sticking stickers.  I'll save you, reader, from further detail.  Trust me - it was pretty boring.  Let's just say that we finally landed.