Tomorrow, I'm leaving Japan for a funeral, and I'm not coming back.
It's been a bittersweet day. I've spent most of it, in between moving and cleaning and errands and paperwork, just riding around taking pictures and saying goodbye to all my favorite spots.
I must say, Fukuoka has given me a grand farewell: a night on the town with friends on Saturday, followed by two clear, hot summer days.
It's hard to put into words what I'm feeling right now. There's a lot to look forward to, a lot to miss, and a lot to regret. The last hurts most: the places I'll never get to see, the people I may never see again. While I'm ready to be living near family, I'm not quite ready to leave Japan. This marks the fourth time in my life I've picked up and moved to a different country. It doesn't get any easier. Then again, that's life, isn't it? You don't always get to finish things before they end.
Anyway, enough of my melancholy. Here's to three great years with a great wife in a great town in a great country. Here's to the next big adventure. And here's to Carl Eck - to Ampa - a great grandfather and a great man.
