We gonna shine

The 10 best things about going “home” to San Diego for the summer holidays.

 

1.    Realizing just how much stuff I’ve come to live without. Don’t get me wrong, my room was pretty Spartan, but it was full of old mementos and photos and miscellaneous knickknacks that I wasn’t really attached to anymore. My book collection, however, was begging to be stuffed into my suitcase and carted back to Japan!

My beautiful, neurotic, annoying princess of a cat.

2.    Getting to spend time with my kitty. I got her when I was 8 years old, so she’s getting up in years and the months leading up to my departure were touch and go for her health. I’m proud to report that aside from irritating my parents by becoming their 5 am alarm clock, she’s doing well.

3.    Perspective. It’s amazing how refreshed one can feel by simply removing yourself from a situation that was laced with unhappiness.

4.    Extraordinary Desserts and extraordinary friends. Seriously, how can you be mopey with cake, coffee and people whose Quarter-Life Crisis party is going to be a ball to plan (and attend!)

5.    Simply hanging out. I could sprawl across the couch, flop on the grass in the lawn, or eat cheetohs and drink slurpees at 1 am without a care in the world. It’s not what we were doing that was important, but the fact that we were together.

6.    Seeing my pseudo-children. I started babysitting them when they were roughly 6 months and 2 years old; they’re now 8 and 10. Watching them grow, even from a distance, has been a beautiful and satisfying experience. If I’m anything like their parents if and when I have children, I will consider myself blessed.

7.    Horse riding. It is my therapy, plain and simple.

8.    Surprising my parents and my big sis. They were all expecting me home a week after I actually landed. Thankfully I had some awesome friends who were in on it and helped me randomly show up. 

 

9.    Mexican food. Japan, you don’t know what you’re missing without burritos in your life. C’mon, you like portable food! You like stuffing unidentifiable food insider other foods. YOU WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER.

 

10.  Love. Family, friends, pets, and even my friendly dental hygienist made it a wonderful, healing, introspective vacation.