Non-stop talking

I am rubbing my eyes and yawning as I write this. Yesterday our good friends, the Erickson's, came in from Washington state for a day with us. Sandra and I stayed up talking until 2:30 am! And we talked practically non-stop in the car as we did sightseeing touristy things too. We are probably going to have laryngitis tomorrow.

17 years ago, I took my kids to a neighborhood park and happened to see two little blond boys about Takumi's age playing on the swings. I asked if they lived nearby and they went running across the street to get their mother who joined us and thus began a close friendship. There was a little sister close to Leiya's age too and Sandra and I hit it off right away as did the husbands. For the next year and a half, we often did things together and one time when the American grandmas were visiting in Japan at the same time we all went off to a public bath which was a great adventure for everyone (I was especially proud of the grandmas).

But the Erickson's returned to the States a couple of years later (leaving us their furniture and their cat!) and we attempted to keep in touch by mail. Hmmph. Sandra isn't so great at keeping in touch. She'd send Christmas cards in February if at all. But the family did drive down to California one summer so we were able to see each other once 10 years ago.

Kids grow up. Husbands change jobs. Mothers get involved with friends and hobbies and life in general and 5 years would go by when we didn't really communicate. Out of the blue the younger son would call and say he was visiting Japan and wanted to come visit for a night. A few more years would go by and he'd call again and say he was now married and had a baby and was working in Japan. And then a couple of weeks ago the message arrived saying that his parents were coming to visit Japan and would like to see us! And that's what we did yesterday.

The Erickson's had to rent a car and husband Mark did a great job of driving on the narrow left-hand side roads. We met up in town and Sandra joined me in my car (Mark following) and drove the 30 minutes back home non-stop talking. We dropped in at a senbei (cracker) shop and enjoyed sampling senbei and talking. The whole family joined my evening English classes and chatted with my students and Tetsu finally came home so we all enjoyed a late dinner and more talking. And as I say, Sandra and I stayed up half the night filling each other in on the years.

I was most worried about the Ericksons' reaction to our menagerie but thankfully Baby Eden just loved cats! And Toi especially seemed to find Baby Eden very interesting. So the kitties kept the baby happy while the rest of us talked some more. I think some cat did open the guest room door in the middle of the night and another ate one of Sandra's bags, but since Baby Eden was kept occupied everyone was very forgiving.

Aren't these a cute bunch of pictures? No. None of us are baby abusers. Baby Eden closed herself up in the cage herself! Baby Eden really thought the kitty cage was a wonderful place to play and crawled in and was quite happy opening and closing the door and letting Toi come in too when he was investigating the pink creature in his cage.

This morning (minus working Tetsu) we drove up to the beautiful lake and waterfall in the outer mountains of Nikko and of course it was chat, chat, chat all the way up and all the way back!

The Ericksons have gone on their way to their next stop on their vacation and I'm ready for a nap.