Bubbly

Champagne was always in the Sullins Japan Plan. It was the plan, actually: we expected that early in 2009 we'd be toasting the arrival of Baby Sullins, and maybe even a little sibling before we left in 2011. Quit my job, move to Japan, have babies.

It didn't really work out that way.

Which is not to say we haven't had things to celebrate while we were here. There have been festivals, bike rides, trips home, and incredible food. Josh had laser eye surgery and climbed Mt. Fuji without glasses. I've made dear friends, and even said goodbye to a few. I've loved Japan, and hated the pregnancy losses that ticked away at our time here.

So it was with mixed emotions that Josh and I toasted champagne this evening, as we celebrated the news that we'll be transferred back to the United States sometime next month. We are so delighted to be heading to Washington state, where we'll be able to see specialists who can help us sort out these miscarriages. We look forward to being close to our friends and family again - and 'close' covers a lot more territory once you've lived across an ocean. We're both ready for medical answers, for Whole Foods and sweet potatoes.

But as for me, I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to my Japanese home. I was prepared for three years' time - time to learn more of the language, the cooking, the culture. Time to see Kyoto and Nikko, and maybe even Bali or Thailand. I'd planned to do all those things with a little one slung on my hip, and as it turns out it's that last part that matters most.

So we're off, probably in mid-September, to a new chance on the Kitsap peninsula. I've got a lot of cleaning, organizing, and sushi-eating to do, not to mention time to spend with the friends I've got left in Yokosuka. For tonight we'll toast one more glass of bubbles, and dream of ten tiny fingers and ten little toes.