After the long trip from Japan to Oklahoma City, and a couple days that I don’t even really remember, I am finally starting to recover from the jet lag. We arrived in the USA on Tuesday morning. After spending all day in airports and airplanes we finally got to OKC at 5 pm. My brother in law, bless his heart, was there to pick us up. After a little confusion on the meeting place we finally found each other.
The first day was bad. I barely remember Wednesday. I think I fought drowsiness and the urge to take a nap all day long. My mom was off work and we hung out at her house with our kitties. They were a little happier to see us. Tuesday evening they punished us with the cold shoulder. Wednesday evening we went to our good friends home for a brief, but nice, visit. Again, there was confusion as they thought we were spending the night and I had already told my sister that we would be coming back to her house. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
Thursday was a little better. Although, I was awake at 6 am. Marc and I ventured into town. Our first stop was the dive shop. We brought our equipment for inspection since we have been told that the equipment technicians in Okinawa are questionable. From there w went to the health food store for some gluten free items and then Petsmart for some kitty items and then finally WalMart. I was pretty drowsy as we pulled in to the parking lot at Walmart. I’m sorry to report that we didn’t encounter any photo worthy “people of walmart.”
By the time we arrived back at my sister’s house my drowsy episode had passed. I pulled out my sister’s 30 year old Kitchen Aid stand mixer and set to making a French silk pie. It turned out well and they seemed impressed. I also made chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and gravy and a green salad with homemade ranch dressing. Also, least I forget, I made Texas toast for everyone but myself.
This morning I awoke again just before 6 am. Marc was also awake. After fighting with him all night long for space on the bed I was ready to get up and start moving around. I came into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee and decided that some left-over chicken would be a great choice for breakfast. Soon after my sister came through the kitchen with her morning ritual of trying to get her three boys up and ready to leave for school. Every morning it’s the same. One of them is almost impossible to get up and get going. The others aren’t so bad. But, they lollygag around wasting time and she is just this side of late getting out of the house.
About 8 am I got a message from my sister that in the chaos of the morning she had left her lunch in the freezer at home. I told her I could bring something up to the school. It has been 21 years since I have been a student at Little Axe. While it has changed in appearance, to some degree, it’s basically still the same. I arrived just a few minutes before the lunch bell rang. I elected to wait in my car until I saw kids coming down the sidewalk. As soon as I saw them bustling through the doors I thought it was safe to make my way to her room without interrupting any serious learning.
After lunch was over I headed back out to my car and made my way home. On the way home I drove by the lake. It’s cold and cloudy today and there was no one at the lake, just me and the waves and the breeze and a group of ducks out on the water. I sat there and shuffled through all the summertime memories of time spent at the lake. Those memories go way back to my childhood.
It’s funny how the mind works. I sat there and looked out across the water and thought about being at the lake on my dad’s boat and being at the lake on our boat and all the times we went fishing and played in the water. I thought about the time that I took Marc out there to go fishing at night and we dropped the car keys in the water and we had to search for them in the dark. I thought about the time I slipped on the algae on the ramp and fell under the boat trailer. I thought about the time my sister and I were sitting on the dock and a beaver swam under our feet and we both screamed. I thought about the way the lake looked a few years ago when there was a drought and the water level dropped so low that the dock was no longer floating. I thought about the following year when the rains came and the lake was so flooded that there was only one boat ramp open and it looked like the dock was going to float away. I thought about just this past summer when we were out there with all the kids and we towed them around on the newest inflated toy. I thought of all these things all at the same time. My mind just kind of lumped it all together and played it back to me.
On the way home I discovered something about myself. Something that I think I have always known. I hate chaos and disorder. I like order and schedules. I like to make plans and follow through. I don’t like to be late, or too early. I prefer to be right on time. I really don’t like the fact that I don’t really know what I’ll be doing for the next four years. At this point, the only thing I can say for sure is that on December 8 I’ll get on a plane and go back to Okinawa. After that I don’t have a clue!
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