Given that our flashbacks can only go back to 2005 since that is when we first bought a digital camera lets start there!
The other day a truck drove down my street with moving crates. I don't know the neighbors that were loading or unloading(I couldn't tell) but it definitely took me back! To this sunny warm January day when a bunch of seriously used moving crates showed up to load our stuff into boxes.... to be put on a boat.... to be sent to Japan.
The last of our stuff went on a different truck to a storage unit in Michigan. We were leaving the valley of the sun behind.... didn't even want to store our crap there.
We lived out of bags for over a month!
I took this photo while we were waiting for our housing inspection. Like turn in the keys you're done here. We literally got in the car and drove away right after this photo was taken.
Then there was actually getting to Japan. A month after we left Phoenix, we left our car and our dog in Michigan and boarded a plane to Seattle. We stayed the night, and I can remember not eating that night because I was so terrified of my first overseas flight... and scared shitless of living in a foreign place for four years. The next day we were at the airport bright and early for our flight... no doubt I took ten Imodium tablets..... then our flight was delayed. For seven hours! The plane chartered by the military was stuck in LA, we thought due to the rain and mudslides and terrible weather. After hanging around ALL day I wasn't terrified to get on the plane anymore, I was just damn ready to get going.
I remember the startling number of families boarding the big 747. I remember that the kids looked way calmer than I felt. I saw a young mom give her infant and toddler each tablets of something(I'm assuming to sleep(people don't do that anymore eh)) I remember Dave and I had an extra seat, so we curled up together and passed out from the exhaustion that is PCSing, and from all of those sleepless nights of worry that led up to this huge life event. I remember thinking nothing had ever smelled as good as the dinner they served, since I probably hadn't choked down a real meal in weeks. After sleeping for six or seven hours solid (which I've never done on a plane since) we woke up to eat and I just remember everyone was so tired it was completely silent on that plane full of young military brats. How it was I still can't understand, maybe all of the kids had been drugged.
Our scheduled stop in Yakota AB near Tokyo was exciting. I got my first glimpse of Japan..... in the pitch black. boo We all went through customs... which was a joke considering it was done by military for military... so we were all... you know.. "in". Then while the Yokota people left, us Misawa people got ready to get back on-board to head north. Then there was an announcement. The mechanical problem that had held the plane up in LA was still an issue, so we would be staying the night in Yokota so they could try to repair the aircraft again. This woke my ass up! We had taken a big huge jet with mechanical problems over the ocean?! I was alarmed, relieved, scared.
In the daze that was jet lag/ middle of the night/ strange country... all I remember is helping a woman traveling with a baby while they handed out box lunches and bused us to lodging. I remember the huge line that took forever. By the time we got our room and walked to the building were we were assigned I was exhausted again and I remember the odd fire extinguishers in the hallway being my first weird thing about Japan so far. I slept hard.
In the morning I woke up excited! We were in Japan! I took this photo from our room of the little manicured shrubs. It was my first view of Japan! We had to wait much longer for our flight to Misawa that day and it was torture. They kept telling us we might not be able to go because the flight-line might shut down in Misawa. Finally we were given another boxed lunch and boarded the plane again. It was an hour long flight and it felt like we spent half of that time circling..... a bumpy uncomfortable few trips circling around. Which made the girl in front of me loose her boxed lunch upon landing.... Guess how quickly vomit travels at those speeds and at those angles....I moved my carry-on just in time....anywho. We finally landed at our new base. Someone came on-board and spoke for ten minutes about watching our step on the slippery stairs as the poor girl continued to heave. I was seconds away from freaking out and plowing my way down the isle to escape.
After finding our bags... which were all we had now that we had technically been homeless for over a month, our ride, terrible ambassadors from Dave's work, took us on a head spinning tour of the base and of the nearby offbase area. I literally felt dizzy and confused. It was night, it was snowy, and I was terrified.
We checked into lodging and crashed.... jet lag again took us right out. Our room had a little living room and Dave crashed in a chair while I passed out sitting up on the sofa. Then our first earthquake woke me up. No shit. I thought I was dreaming. I was talking to Dave who was still asleep, but mumbling responses. I stood in the doorway. Felt a little queasy. Then when it was over I went and fell asleep again. The next day we heard it was actually a good size earthquake. Nearly a 6!
It took us a week of living in lodging to get an onbase house. Our stuff had already arrived, we were very lucky! We walked to and from the lemon lot a few times looking for a car to buy... so we wouldn't have to hoof it in the snow! After a week we had an ugly Toyota 4-runner and keys to a quadplex apartment. Finally we were ready to move in.
It didn't start blizzard snowing until they had all of our things out of the crates. Considering we had packed our thing on a warm sunny day in the desert... and here we were moving into a snowy foreign country the change was huge!
This girl that was unpacking unknowing on March 5th, 2005 had no clue what was about to happen. The culture shock, the homesickness, the anxiety, the delight, the unforgettable. The beginning of those four years started with a lot of hatred. Towards the situation. Towards to location. Towards the guy that took her there. But in the end, when it was over, this girl realized some of the most amazing things happened to her during that time. Learning to cling to that guy when things were hard. Learning to enjoy the quiet. Living in peace. Simple joys. Grand adventures.
Maybe that is why I feel compelled to start these flashbacks. Because these memories are starting to fade. These incredible things happened, yet they already feel so distant I have a hard time believing they were real. I love that nowadays I regularly blog about the small stuff.... the day the hamster cage arrived, progress in the garden, an occasional spot free faucet photo. This blog has locked those things in for me.... and ultimately for Nate. Those everyday memories I wish I had earlier in Nate's life and in the beginning of our marriage.
So thanks for humoring these silly memories... and the flashbacks I share in the future. Or... just don't check in on Fridays.
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