In Japan with most excellent son

I am here in Aaron’s apartment early on Sunday morning. Yesterday was a longish day. There is something surreal about jumping on a big shiny bird and then being across the entire world in a few hours. It plays with your head. It is glorious to be spending time with my wonderful son – to have seen his face as I was strolling out to the meeting area outside of Japanese customs. I declared nothing. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me when I try to take my Nikon camera back home!! Hopefully, they’ll look at me and just KNOW I didn’t buy that camera here. I barely got it purchased functioning in my own language! Aaron and I ate Italian food right out of my suitcase last night – chicken/proscuittio (sp) tortellini (undeclared to Japanese customs), a French baguette with EVOO to dip in, and peanut butter cake to top it off. It was good old easy food from Texas, but to us it tasted like the nectar of the gods! Now, in order to have this pasta, we had to go buy a pot to boil the water. We also purchased two plates and two drinking cups and some forks at the Daiei, sort of an all-purpose high-rise dollarstore/house-wares/walmart/and grocery all in one. – a perfect retail establishment as far as I could tell. There was no colander to drain the pasta, and the kitchen (and everything else) is built for conservation and thrift MUCH more so than for convenience. Aaron hasn’t noticed such trifles, and for that I adore him. His apartment is new and very utilitarian – perfect for Mr. Diggs! He has no chairs. He purchased a rug (while I was buying the small stock pot), and we sat Japanese style on the floor on his brand new rug and ate our grand dinner. Scotty called to make sure we had found each other at the airport – everything went blessedly smoothly. Then, Aaron and I visited for a long time about not just what he has seen and done, but about the nuances of race, nationalism, and language. For me, this is Nirvana! And then I realize how ABUNDANTLY blessed I am that my God has granted me peace and joy on SO many levels from so many sources – all around the world!