A "Happy" Un-Birthday

Happy Un-Birthday

Have you ever had one of those days when you re-visit things you've done in your life, heard some of the voices of yesterday in your head and came away with a smile because you feel like you did something right along the way? Monday, my birthday, was one of those kind of days. Totally awesome from start to finish. On Sunday night I'd had a piece of Dove Dark Chocolate and when I looked at the writing under the wrapper it said "Happy Un-Birthday" on it. So Russ named the day my "un-birthday" since there were no plans for any of the traditional birthday things. Before leaving the states I wanted to update my laptop so I told Russ then that it would be an early birthday present and he wouldn't have to worry about buying anything for my birthday. His birthday in September was pretty much an awful day for him because of all the stress of setting up movers and preparing for the move so I wanted him to know I was content with just a simple day. I told him we would celebrate both of our un-birthdays on my birthday and so it became a pretty special day for both of us.

Russ made a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs and then while I got my shower packed a picnic lunch for us to take with us for a day of exploring. Our plan was to go to White Beach....a place we had visited almost exactly 23 years ago to the day with our three kids. Earlier in the week we watched some of our videos from our earlier White Beach Trip so we could determine how much it had changed when we saw it. What we weren't prepared for was how much it would affect us when we walked to this little gazebo area on a hill overlooking the beach. I saw this table and instantly started crying. I turned around to see where Russ was and he was coming up the stairs with tears in his eyes as well. You see, to you it might look like a simple table with a pole in the middle...which it is. But for us we were flooded with memories of our two little blond girls, 4 and 2 years old circling around that pole and singing "Ring-around-the-Rosey...pocket full of posies...ashes ashes we all fall down" as they dropped to the table and giggled then got up and did it all over again. Russ said..."and just like that 23 years has flown by us". I sent the picture to the kids with the caption "ring around the rosey" and our son was still awake and started texting back. He was so excited that we were there and wanted more pictures of all the things he remembered.

We have a picture of Cory at 6 years old sitting in a cigarette ash can that said "butt can" on the side because he thought the name on it was funny. At first I was a little disappointed because I couldn't find any butt cans...but a little later I noticed in the picnic area of the campgrounds smaller versions of them and I started smiling. Who knew a simple little "butt can" could make an old lady so happy but being the good Mom that I am, I had to sit in the "butt can" and had Russ take a picture so I could send it to my son. Cory then texted me and asked me to let him know if there are still snails on the steps leading up to the O'Club. I showed the texts to Russ and we were both amazed at all the little details Cory remembered about that trip when he was only 6 years old. That's when that feeling of "wow" came over me as I realized that although we looked at all of that as just simple little insignificant things,(things that we'd forgotten about) they were big memories for a six year old little boy and he had been soaking it all in. Russ and I have both questioned ourselves through the years wondering if we ruined our kids' childhoods by moving them all over the world versus staying in one place with lifelong friends and memories of one house but it's in moments like this one when we realize what a gift we gave them by showing them a bigger world than most kids ever see. It was an Aaaahaaa moment of sorts when you see a nagging question answered for you in such a subtle little way.

So, after eating a picnic lunch on the beach we had to go in search of those O'Club steps to answer the question for Cory as to whether the snails still climbed up those stairs. We found the O'Club was no longer open for business and the stairs were all fenced off but we did see a few snails clinging to the walls on the steps that we could climb on...and of course we took a picture of a snail on a wall for our son. He said he remembered them being bigger and maybe they were but to a six year old boy, maybe in perspective these small things were big in his eyes. It was just so cool that he remembered them when I had long forgotten.

After all our reminiscing at White Beach, we hopped in the car to go and search out several other islands we could travel to via bridges. We drove to Henza Island, Miyagi Island, and ended at Ikei Island. We hoped to find a nice beach area along the way on which to relax with our books and read but we ended up just driving through them and looking at the sites and then coming back to Henza Island where we found a park that looked like one we took the kids to 23 years ago during our White Beach vacation.

We're not sure it was the same park but all the equipment there was the same so we had to stop and play and did a little more reminiscing and picture taking. In our videos, the kids climb the ropes up to the top of the slide and then slide down at full speed falling forward at the bottom every time because they are going so fast and laughing then running back to do it all over again. So....remembering the laughter of our kids, Russ and I both climbed  the ropes up the slide hill over the rope bridge and rode down the slide at full speed tumbling forward at the bottom. I got rug type burns on the sides of my feet trying to slow down because I was going so fast but I loved every minute of it. They don't make playgrounds like these in the States anymore since we've become so regulated by safety standards. I'll be the first to admit that Japan has us beat when it comes to playgrounds with some awesome and fun parks for their kids.  We then rode the zip line and had a zip line race which he, of course, won because he transformed into monkey mode and kept his feet high enough to go the distance while my feet dragged the ground after I got to a certain point. Nonetheless it was totally fun playing like a kid on my 56th birthday while remembering doing the same things just a few days before my 33rd birthday 23 years ago. In my mind I'm still that young Mom having fun with my kids and I'm not sure how I got from there to here so quickly.

We spent the rest of the evening walking along a beach on Henza Island looking for shells and watching the sunset over the hills. We had dinner at a Ramen Restaurant near the base called Tenkaippen, feasting on ramen, garlic fried rice and gyozas. We then walked through the American Village and along the sea wall enjoying the cool evening air and some good conversation before heading back to the base.

After I sat down to the computer in the evening of my birthday here, I was then greeted with about 150 different facebook messages, emails and text messages from all my friends/family back in the states who were just starting their day. I got to experience the day again with each new message coming in. Each one represented different phases of my life from all my many cousins to childhood friends and college friends to Indiana friends, Japan friends, Germany friends, England friends Colorado friends, Georgia friends and new friends here. It made me realize how very blessed I've been in my life to have lived in so many places and met so many wonderful people along the way. I've had 56 amazing years filled with some fun adventures. I'm thankful for every one of them.

 It was an awesome "un-birthday" birthday...one of those days that ends with such a strong feeling of contentment with life. There was no cake, no singing, no card or present but instead a day full of memories both new and old which made for a most wonderful birthday with a most wonderful man who knew that these are the kinds of days that make me happy.