Koji's Graduation Day....March 20, 2009....and Spring!!

Anatomy of a Kindergarten/Daycare Graduation

The day was perfect. We woke up to sunshine and warmth and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The ceremony was nice, with tears being shed by many...yours truly, included. Yes, I know that crying at a ceremony for one so young is a bit, maybe silly, but, it wasn't only for that.

During the time when the incho sensei (the principal) was reading each student's certificate, she read not only their names, but also birth date and how long each one had been coming to the daycare. Koji, for example, has been going to Yuai Daycare for 6 years and 6 months. After listening to about half of the kids' being read, it dawned on me that here in this room was a group of kids that Koji has been with since he was a baby. These were kids that he has played with almost everyday of his life....and in 10 days, he will say "good bye" to them. Oh, he will see them at times, we will make an effort to get together, but still.....6 years is a long time.

And then...something else hit me...and hit me hard.....I have been going to that daycare, seeing most of the same teachers, almost everyday for over 11 years. When we first started going there, my ability in the Japanese language was so incredibly low....but, in spite of that, the teachers and I formed a bond of friendship that I am going to miss.
It was the incho sensei who, when I was fired not signed to another contract at a job I thought I loved, who let me sit in her office and just cry because I was seriously at a loss at what I was going to do next. She speaks no English, yet, she sat there...listening...with one hand on my arm and the other handing me tissues.

We have laughed about funny things that the boys have done (and believe me....we laughed a lot!!), they gave me advice and support, we talked about being a foreigner in Japan and different things about the English language. (I was the one who explained why it wasn't such a good idea that the older kids were 'flipping the bird' to each other and it probably should be stopped before someone did it to a person who understood what it actually meant.)

Other than the K-man and my family, this is the longest relationship I have had. I'm probably going to go through withdrawals....they said I could always stop by. That made me feel a bit better. But now, I'm trying to find a way to adequately say "thank you" for being such an important part of my sons' lives...for taking such good care of them while I worked....for being there, when I couldn't be.....how does one do that? I'm thinking that a Hallmark card might not do it.
I have a couple ideas that I'm bouncing around....what about you? Any ideas?

Anyhoooots......here are some pictures that we took to remember the day. Go ahead and watch...speed through if it gets too boring...I don't mind! :-D

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After the ceremony and before the party....we ran by Grandma K's to pick her up and then we all went to the temple. Friday was a National Holiday to celebrate the equinox, but, it was also the day in the middle of what the Japanese call "o-higan"....a time when many Japanese go to the graves of their ancestors and pray. As my father-in-law doesn't have an actual grave, his bones (yes, his actual bones, not ashes) are kept at the temple (I'll tell you more about that later...that's a whole blog post in of itself!).

While we were walking up the stairs, the boys noticed that the cherry blossoms were starting to do their thing....it was quite lovely up around the temple. Spring has come to Nagasaki....it is a beautiful time of year, probably my favorite. All over the city, the cherry trees are filled with buds and some early bloomers and hopefully even with last night's wind and today's rain, they will be okay and in full bloom probably sometime by the end of the week.

Here are the pictures we took of the cherry blossoms....and the camellia tree in the middle of the yard of the temple.

Oops...I just notice that one picture is on there twice. Oh well....it's still pretty!!

I wish you all a day with some spring in it!!