Back again. With meme party.

(antique sampler)
Here we are, back in Tokyo again. Kids were awake at 2:30 a.m. for “peanut butter and crackers for breakfast, please!”, which was an improvement over the 12:30 a.m. wake-up call yesterday morning (night). When I say wake-up, I mean we are woken up until I can get them to finally rest again around lunchtime. Jet lag is no fun.

Now that I have made the journey (as the only adult) to the midwest U.S.A. and back to Japan with two children, at varying stages of infancy and toddlerhood, five times, it is safe to call myself a veteran.  I shrugged when even the flight attendants were ones of many who called me “brave” on Tuesday.  I talked to one flight attendant who, having children ages 2, 4, and 6 herself, understood me well.  I told her that it must take a lot of juggling to be an international flight attendant with three small children at home, to which she quickly replied, “Yes, but I get to have a hotel room!”  Sounds like some blissful peace and quiet to me, too!

Last week, Quilt Otaku kindly gave me an award for being a “creative blogger with originality”. Thank you so much!

I am not usually a memey person, but I have seen some good ones around lately, so I decided to make up my own meme! Is that allowed? I always thought there had to be 284 degrees of separation between me and an original meme-maker. I’ll call it “Ten Years About Me”. Here goes:

Ten years ago, I worked in a village in southern Japan, and helped neighbors with their onion and lotus root harvests in my spare time.

Nine years ago, I trained to race walk a full marathon in Omaha, Nebraska.

Eight years ago, I rode my bicycle along the lakefront path to work in downtown Chicago.

Seven years ago, I started law school. Then I decided that it would be okay if there was one fewer lawyer in the world, and went back to the master’s degree program in library and information science that I had already started.

Sixyears ago, I had a blog called Moving Hands on Blogger. Then it moved to Typepad for their free trial month thing. That ran out (due to my ambivalence; some people thought that when the blog disappeared, it meant that I had called off the wedding!), and I eventually moved to WordPress. Yes, I am a blogging dinosaur who remembers such things as tag boards instead of comments (tag boards!!), being part of the knitblog ring when it had 25 or so members, and some of the original knitting/crafting bloggers, most of whom have (no surprise) quit blogging. Remember Spinning Ginn, Dangerous Chunky, Domestic Sphere, and Glitter Kitty? I do.

Five years ago, I moved to Tokyo.

Four years ago, I got married with Tokyo Bay as the backdrop.

Threeyears ago, I had my first daughter. We took her home from the hospital on the Coming of Age Day national holiday, and I remember seeing the 20-year-olds dressed in kimono and suits for celebrations, thinking that my baby would never get that big. Time will prove me wrong.

(one year ago)

Two years ago, I had my second daughter. Her super-special Fourth of July birthday was celebrated with red, white and blue cupcakes this year. Can’t wait until she is old enough to watch fireworks.

(a snack smock made from vintage fabric)

One year ago, we moved into this house. The area continues to surprise and enchant me.

And right now? I am on my third cup of coffee at 4 a.m., and thinking about picnics, making about a dozen of these, house cushions and soft vegetables.

My daughter is learning how to play tag. But when we tag her, instead of chasing us, she runs away gleefully. That’s my girl. I hereby tag all of you. Now run away, write ten years about you, and come back to share your link in the comments.