14 days with a missing husband...

Well, not really missing...let me assure everyone that Eric is quite fine (besides possibly going through some of the I-live-in-rural-Japan-and-am-now-experiencing-life-in-Tokyo culture shock that comes when, as the phrase suggests, one goes to Tokyo after living in the countryside of Japan for awhile). He is going through some job training that requires some time first in Tokyo, and then here in Fukushima, so I am on my own for awhile and thought I might try to document the days for a few reasons:

1. To share some "daily schedule" moments.

2. To document a season of change.

3. To offer some type of proof that I do not just eat ice cream and chocolate when I am separated from my husband. :) (Although I can see why some people have that impression...) :)


It is possible that these are not the most serious of reasons... :)

I have always loved spaces where one can just roll thoughts around in a somewhat lazy manner. We have been reading and praying through the first chapters of Genesis this last week because of our church's monthly "Week of Prayer," and ideas flit through my brain as I eat breakfast (oatmeal and salad :)) and stare at the blowing snow outside. "How does a person reconcile Paul's advice not to marry with God's obviously intentional partnership of Adam and Eve?...If everyone is sinful and yet made in the image of God, can there be any boundaries/laws on a person? How? What?...I wonder if the aging process is simply us becoming more and more self-focused...When I was young, I looked at the opportunities the world has to offer, and now I tend to look more at my inability to handle all of the opportunities...What does it mean to grow old or age well?" 

A glance at the clock halts the mental meandering. It's time for a whirlwind of dish clean-up, clothes and make-up, and heading out the door. Today is the first Sunday of the month, so I'll be going to church in the morning here in Fukushima, and then driving an hour or so to go to another church in a nearby city. It always feels like a challenge to sneak in a lunch between the services...for some reason, people at our church (and in most of the country that I have experienced) seem to think that lunch is an unnecessary luxury to be cut whenever the afternoon schedule makes time tight. However, if one adopts a bold American attitude, simply avoiding the tea time after the first service can allow enough time for lunch on Sundays such as these. :) The second service of the day is small...5-8 people maybe...and I am the organist and Sunday-school leader, Cindy is usually the prayer leader and food/tea provider...and with the pastor and his wife we are all the church custodians. I do not understand why, for two Americans, the pastor and his wife, two church members, and one woman with an energetic son we need to use the church liturgy and hymnody which is:

A. Difficult to use for people new to the church (1 person)
B. Impossible to read for children, and difficult to read for the elderly and foreigners (4 people)

This tempts me to engage in another bout of thoughtfulness: "What is Christian discipleship?...How can I help, as a foreigner under the authority of others?...Is this meaningful?...Does it have to be meaningful to be good?..."

Usually on these 1st-Sundays-of-the-month, Eric has a warm meal waiting at 7pm...I will miss it tonight! I wonder how much exploring he will do in Tokyo today...and I wonder how much conveyor-belt sushi he will consume in 14 days... :)